The European Union’s Pact on Migration and Asylum is in disarray after Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has refused to implement the legislation, throwing into doubt its practical viability.

“Poland will not implement the migration pact in a way that would introduce additional quotas of immigrants in Poland,” Mr Tusk said at a press conference.

Agreed on in May, last year, the pact establishes a complicated set of protocols aimed at collectively managing the irregular arrival of asylum seekers in Europe. It will come into force next year.

The pact’s Its central pillar is the mechanism of ‘mandatory solidarity’ that gives EU governments three options: to relocate a certain number of asylum seekers; to pay a financial contribution or provide operational support or like personnel and equipment.

The relocations are set at 30,000 per year and the financial contributions 600 million Euros.

“This is not an ideological debate. Poland is in a very particular situation. We’re under huge pressure from illegal migration,” Mr Tusk said.

“If somebody says that Poland is expected to shoulder an additional burden, irrespective of who says that, my response is Poland will not accept an additional burden. Full stop.”

Mr Tusk cited two reasons for his stance: the large number of Ukrainian refugees hosted by Poland, which he estimated at two million, and the migration flows that Belarus and Russia have weaponised at the Eastern border.

The European Commission has stopped short of any sanctions against Poland over the move.

EC President Ursula von der Leyen, who previously hailed the Pact as a “historic” achievement to ensure burden-sharing across the bloc, said the Commission would “take into account” and “respect” Warsaw’s solidarity shown towards Ukrainians.

“The Pact considers the specific migratory situation of each member state and provides the necessary flexibility to address their needs. This is the case, for instance, for providing solidarity to members under pressure. And this could include Poland because of the enormous number of Ukrainian refugees in Poland,” an EC statement said.

Under the Pact, countries considered to be under “migratory pressure” can benefit from solidarity measures.

This means they could have some asylum seekers relocated to another member state or receive financial support and equipment. They could benefit from a partial or total exemption from the system.

The response flies in the face previous remarks from high-level officials.

Last year, Ylva Johansson, the former European Commissioner for Home Affairs, who was instrumental in the negotiations around the pact, said the executive would “of course act and use – if necessary – infringement procedures” against non-compliant countries.

Throughout the negotiations, Poland and Hungary vehemently opposed the pact, and particularly, the solidarity mechanism, over dubious claims it would force them to take in migrants against their will.