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Warsaws right-wing Government is looking into the possibility of setting up camps to detain migrants and refugees at its borders following a similar move by its southern neighbour.

Hungarys hardline president Viktor Orban has attracted intense criticism over his decision to set up such camps, with charities and aid groups have described as inhumane and illegal.

A number of senior EU figures have also openly criticised Hungary, whose relationship with the bloc has become strained over the issue of migration, with Jean-Claude Juncker famously calling Mr Orban a dictator.

And Poland has recently been locked in its own vicious battle with Brussels over the re-election of EU Council president Donald Tusk and threats by Western countries like France to withdraw its funding.

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Now Warsaw risks opening up a fresh flashpoint with eurocrats by significantly hardening its stance on immigration, despite having received just 25,000 asylum applications in 2015-16.

Under its plans people arriving in Poland would be placed into camps made up of shipping containers, and surrounded by barbed wire, until their asylum applications were processed.

Ministers say the proposal will only come into force if a second migration crisis occurs, such as in the event of Turkey reneging on its current migrant deal with the bloc.

Interior minister Mariusz Baszczak said: The thing is to be ready for such a situation in the form of places in which those waiting for deportation would be kept who may try to break the law.

Thats all it entails. Besides, there are similar container camps in France and in Germany.

You cant open too many battle fronts at once, and the Commission has already too many with Poland

German expert Raphael Bossong

He added that the plan would allow border guards to lock up asylum seekers for up to a month while their applications are processed, something which will prevent efforts to illegally move to Western Europe.

The move is likely to go down well with ordinary voters - 74 per cent of Poles are anti-migration according to a recent poll - but will provoke dismay amongst human rights groups.

Marta Grczyska, from the Helsinki Foundation, told Politico the planned policy was concerning and could cause a systematic violation of rights of asylum seekers.

The EU has previously been highly critical of Hungarys migration policies but softened its stance slightly last month after Budapest insisted it would press ahead with the plan to open camps on its border regardless.

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Aid workers help migrants up the shore after making the crossing from Turkey to the Greek island of Lesbos on November 16, 2015 in Sikaminias, Greece

Brussels migration chief Dimitris Avramopoulos said that instead of trying to ban the move the bloc would work with Hungarian officials to ensure human rights and living standards were maintained within the camps.

And analysts have predicted that the EU may feel compelled to allow the latest move by Poland to pass, given that it is already fighting the country on several other fronts.

Raphael Bossong from the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said: You cant open too many battle fronts at once, and the Commission has already too many with Poland.

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Poland risks new rift with EU as it looks to mimic Hungary's controversial migrant camps - Express.co.uk