Rising number of refugees: EU foreign ministers increase pressure on Belarus

Because of the increasing number of refugees on the route via Belarus, the EU wants to increase the pressure on the regime. After consultations with the foreign ministers, sanctions against the state-owned Belarusian airline are planned.

They come from Syria, Pakistan or Senegal. By plane to the Belarusian capital Minsk, from there to the European Union. In revenge for the EU sanctions against the regime in Belarus, the EU sees it, President Alexander Lukashenko is still targeting thousands of migrants from North Africa and the Middle East in order to then allow them to the borders to Poland, Latvia and Lithuania bring.

“Migration as a Weapon”

The rulers use migration as a weapon, says Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. He calls Lukashenko the “head of a state smuggling ring” and announces further sanctions. “Because what is happening there, people using refugees to generate political pressure, remains unacceptable to us,” says Maas. “We will continue to put pressure on the airlines that bring people to Minsk from various destinations, from where they will be pushed to the limits with the support of those in power there.” There was a great deal of agreement that one had to counter it with very clear and very tough measures.

The EU is tightening its thumbscrews once more. People smuggling should also be a reason for punitive measures in the future. “There are a number of new flights from North Africa and the Middle East with the aim of deceiving people who are hoping for an easy way to the EU: via Minsk to Poland, Latvia or Lithuania,” says Lithuania’s chief diplomat Gabrielius Landsbergis. “This is one of the most pressing problems for my country and for the EU and we need answers now.”

Pressure on airlines and tour operators

The EU foreign ministers are primarily targeting the Belarusian state airline Belavia, which will no longer receive any technical support and will be cut off from international connecting flights. However, tour operators who sell the migrants expensive flight tickets to Minsk could also end up on the sanctions list.

“We need tougher punitive measures because Lukashenko is still abusing migration as a hybrid weapon,” says Latvian Foreign Minister Edgar Rinkevics. “I think we have to put more pressure on, especially on the travel industry, on the so-called tourism sector.” How far the threat should be expressed has not yet been conclusively determined.

Many of the flights are handled with leased aircraft. The aircraft are often rented through Ireland; some of the contracts were signed years ago, when Belarus was still a normal trading partner. The Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney therefore warns of legal problems if existing leasing agreements are also subject to sanctions. But there shouldn’t be any new rental business with Belarusian travel companies.