Poland to miss EU migrant summit over internal row

(WARSAW) - Poland said it will be a no-show at the EU migrant summit in Malta on Thursday because the timing conflicts with the first sitting of the Central European heavyweight's new parliament.

Outgoing EU affairs minister Rafal Trzaskowski announced the decision Tuesday after days of squabbling between the newly elected conservatives and the liberals who have wound up in the opposition after eight years in power.

Outgoing centrist premier Ewa Kopacz, from the liberal Civic Platform (PO) party, said Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka would represent Warsaw at the informal talks on the migrant crisis.

The trouble arose last week, when President Andrzej Duda -- who is backed by the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party that won the October 25 election -- scheduled the first sitting of parliament for November 12, the day of the EU summit.

Whatever the reason for the double-booking it leaves Poland with an empty chair in Malta, as Kopacz must resign along with her government at the first sitting and Duda must also attend according to tradition.

Each side accused the other of being misinformed and proposed ways to solve the conflict, including by rescheduling the parliamentary session or having Kopacz resign early, but they failed to come to an agreement.

The PiS and the PO also disagree on the focus of the summit itself, the European Union's worst migrant crisis since World War II.

Kopacz agreed for Poland to take in a certain number of refugees while PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski has said it should financially support EU efforts to tackle the crisis but not welcome refugees. Surveys show nearly 60 percent of Poles share his views.

Both sides believe however in differentiating between economic migrants and refugees, protecting EU borders, and refusing any obligatory EU migrant quota system.