Is the European Union giving up its own principles in the migration crisis on the border with Belarus? Commissioner Margaritis Schinas and Commissioner Ylva Johansson, who is responsible for migration, presented controversial proposals on Wednesday to temporarily relax the right to asylum. They should make it easier for the governments in Poland, Lithuania and Latvia to deal with the many migrants who the Belarusian autocrat Alexander Lukashenko is piloting to the border. Fundamental rights would not be restricted, said Johansson. Human rights organizations disagreed.
The authorities in the border countries should therefore have longer to register asylum applications, four weeks instead of a maximum of ten days. The asylum process should take up to 16 weeks. That could mean that people will be housed in reception centers near the border for so long. In addition, they want to allow easier and faster deportations. The Commission relies on Article 78 (3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, which provides for specific measures to be taken in the event of an “emergency” caused by a “sudden influx of third-country nationals”. They should now be adopted by the Member States.
The organization Pro Asyl called the proposal “deeply worrying”. The package shows that the hardliners in Europe are now setting the Brussels agenda. The proposal was very controversial even in the Commission, until Tuesday evening a common stance had been struggled with, especially since the Polish government violated European rules with its own legislation.
In Poland, a new border protection law, passed the day before, came into force on Wednesday, replacing the state of emergency in the border area with Belarus, which expired on December 2nd. The law empowers the Minister of the Interior to ban access to the border area for all non-residents at their own discretion – in a zone up to 15 kilometers deep instead of the previous three kilometers.
New Polish law to protect the border contradicts EU law
The law contradicts the legal service of the Senate (the upper house of parliament) according to the Polish constitution: The right to freedom of movement is violated as well as the rights to freedom of demonstration and assembly and the rights to freedom of the press and information. Also Poland’s commissioner for civil rights judged the law broadly negative. Nevertheless, it was adopted on Tuesday by a majority vote in the Sejm.
The Border Guard Act follows one Violating EU law and other international conventions Law of October 26th legalizing the practice of pushing migrants and refugees back across the border in illegal pushbacks. In fact, like other states, Poland is obliged to enable people to apply for asylum even after they have crossed the border illegally. Few migrants and refugees actually manage to apply for asylum.
In the meantime, the situation on the border with Belarus has eased significantly. Poland’s border guards reported only 102 attempts to illegally cross the border the day before. Five migrants and refugees were pushed back to Belarusian territory. Belarusian journalist Tadeusz Giczan reported as early as November 29th, the number of migrants in Belarus was only 1,000 to 2,000; After the closure of flight routes from Istanbul, for example, hardly any new migrants are currently arriving. Polish officials warned that the relative calm was “misleading”.