The European Commission wants to sanction Belarus again. The institution proposes to suspend certain provisions of the agreement with Minsk which facilitates the granting of visas. This measure targets in particular officials of the regime of Alexander Lukashenko.
The EU accuses Belarus of organizing the transfer of migrants to several member countries and of profiting financially from this situation. “It would seem that it costs at least 10,000 euros to arrive or even to be pushed to the EU“, explains the European Commissioner in charge of Home Affairs Ylva Johansson.
The situation is becoming critical along the border between Poland and Belarus. Five people are said to have lost their lives, in addition to charges of illegal refoulements. Warsaw prohibits journalists and NGOs from going there. Civil society, for its part, underlines that Poland refuses to grant asylum to migrants in distress.
Polish lawyer Marta Górczyńska explains that asylum seekers are often repeatedly returned by Polish and Belarusian authorities. They are lost in the middle of the forest “in difficult conditions: the temperatures are low, they have no food, they have no roof, no suitable clothing. When we find these people they are totally helpless” , she specifies.
A meeting is scheduled for Thursday in Warsaw between the Commissioner for Internal Affairs and the Polish Minister of the Interior. For the moment the Swedish official refuses to condemn the refoulements but she reiterates that it is above all necessary to respect European values and international law.
Reference-feedproxy.google.com