Status: December 9th, 2021 2:25 p.m.
At her first EU ministerial meeting, Federal Interior Minister Faeser sharply criticized Belarus’ President Lukashenko for dealing with migrants. She also criticized neighboring Poland – at least indirectly.
The new Federal Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser, described the instrumentalization of migrants by Belarus as “scandalous and inhuman”. President Alexander Lukashenko “takes advantage of people’s plight to make politics inward. That is really terrible,” criticized the SPD politician at her first meeting of EU interior ministers in Brussels. However, through the cohesion of the European Union there have been “initial successes”.
The European Union accuses the authoritarian Belarusian ruler of deliberately allowing people from crisis regions to be flown into Minsk in order to then smuggle them into the EU and destabilize the situation in the West. In the past few months, thousands of migrants have tried to enter the EU from Belarus.
Faeser indirectly criticizes Poland
With a view to the situation on the EU border with Belarus, Faeser urged compliance with legal standards. “That is why Frontex would be good there,” said the interior minister. “And what is just as important for me is that the aid organizations also have access to the people at any time,” said Faeser, indirectly criticizing Poland’s actions.
Poland has not allowed aid organizations to enter a three-kilometer-wide corridor along the border with Belarus for months. The government in Warsaw only accepts the support of the EU border protection agency Frontex to a very limited extent, despite the urging of the EU Commission.
Migrants who make it into the country despite thousands of Polish soldiers are reportedly being pushed back into Belarus. Aid organizations see the international right to an asylum procedure exposed. However, Faeser did not address the situation in Poland directly.
Poland wants to override asylum rules
At their meeting, the interior ministers also wanted to discuss temporary exceptions to the asylum rules in the European border area with Belarus. The EU Commission had proposed to allow Poland, Latvia and Lithuania to temporarily suspend certain property rights of migrants for an initial period of six months. Among other things, a “simplified and faster” return of rejected applicants is to be made possible and the deadlines for the registration and processing of asylum applications are to be extended. A decision requires a qualified majority in the member states.
Poland wants to completely override the asylum rules. EU Interior Commissioner Ylva Johansson made it clear that Warsaw could face infringement proceedings in this case. A deviation from the EU treaties and fundamental rights is not possible, she said in Brussels.
New sanctions against Belarus
The EU recently imposed new sanctions against those involved in people smuggling. They are directed against the Belarusian airline Belavia and other travel companies that are said to have helped Lukashenko smuggle people.