The escalating humanitarian crisis on the EU-Belarusian border, in particular in Poland (debate)
Speaker: Manfred WEBER (Germany, Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) / Christlich-Soziale Union in Bayern e.V.)
Date: 2021-11-10

  Manfred Weber,  on behalf of the PPE Group. – Madame Vice-President, Mr High Representative, the situation is serious, and the starting point of all discussions is that we have a clear picture about what is happening there.
For us in the EPP Group, it is not, first of all, a migration crisis. For us in the EPP Group, it is, like Josep Borrell told us today, a hybrid attack against the European Union. Dictator Lukashenko first fought the democratic opposition in his old country, brought people to prison, then reactivated sanctions again and now with this method he is increasing the pressure on the European Union. it is a business model. The oligarch system in Belarus is stabilised with such an approach. When we consider the migration dimension behind, please have a look at the figures in the Baltic area. Lithuania and Latvia: all the cases which were there, registered and assessed even by the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), about more than 90% of all the cases were refused by the authorities. There is no legal ground as an asylum seeker or as a refugee to ask to stay inside of the European Union. That is the reality. That is what is happening there. That is why our first message at the EPP is: you cannot blackmail the European Union. We will protect our borders, The state decides who is arriving and not smugglers and not a dictator.
The second message from the EPP is migrants are the victims of the development. They need to respect – we have to show respect, we have to respect – the European law. It is protecting their dignity and their rights. I want to applaud and thank our friends in Lithuania and Latvia, both EPP-governed countries and both show together with EASO, together with Frontex, how to treat the people in a responsible, humanitarian way. That is not the case in Poland. For the moment, the Polish authorities are not respecting and accepting support from Frontex. We have no transparency of what is going on along the border. That’s why my appeal is: please do it in a European way, let’s do it together.
The third element is we have to stop the travel routes. Thanks to the Commission, Margaritis Schinas, Josep Borrell, we are active and talking with our partners in Iraq . In Turkey, I hope that this will bring results. I hope that they understand that they cannot support this smuggler business on European territory. We also have to remind the responsibility of the airlines. Sorry, if somebody wants to earn money on European territory like Turkish Airlines or others, they have to understand that they cannot be part of such smuggler model, as is happening today. We probably have to deny the right to land on European airports if they are not willing anymore to work in a partnership-orientated way. The same goes for social media platforms, like Facebook. They are misused by smugglers for their business model, and you have to be frank and honest with them: please stop this. So, there are a lot of activities needed for stopping the model of Lukashenko.
If I may comment on this debate about border protection, dear colleagues, nobody wants to have a fence. Nobody. But I tell you, after we installed a fence between the Turkish and Greek border, the blackmailing from Erdoğan stopped. It was Charles Michel, Ursula von der Leyen, David Sassoli who travelled to the border and welcomed the engagement of the Greek Government to protect our border. Again, nobody wants to have a fence or a wall. Nobody. But if it there are technically no other ways possible to protect our borders then physical investments also must be possible. I’ll tell you, one of the oldest borders which we have is in Ceuta and Melilla, a high border, higher even than the Mexican border. And that’s why I think that’s not what we want to see, but it is a reality in today’s life. Let’s not be naive. That’s why we at the EPP are also asking that in an extraordinary situation, EU funds must be available for financing this kind of activities. Ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, that is the problem we are facing currently in the European Union and behind all of these activities we know and I thank really Josep Borrell for this clear statement, behind all these activities we have put in as the mastermind. It is a political dimension. It is a hybrid war against the European Union. Europe has to stay together. Europe has together a unified answer and then we can defend our borders.