The prime ministers of Ireland, Finland and the Netherlands have spoken in support of controversial Polish plans to temporarily suspend the right to asylum in order to tackle migratory pressure at the Belarusian border.
Irish Taoiseach Simon Harris, Finland’s Petteri Orpo and Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof made the comments ahead of an EU Council summit in Brussels on Thursday, at which migration was top of the agenda.
Poland’s Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, was expected to explain to EU leaders Warsaw’s decision to temporarily waive the right to asylum.
Harris said Poland’s situation was not normal migration. Warsaw has accused Belarus of orchestrating an artificial migration emergency in collaboration with the Kremlin with the aim of destabilizing the EU.
Minsk is accused of enticing thousands of migrants from the Middle East and Africa on false promises of easy access to the EU via Poland. As a result, Poland has been dealing with large numbers of migrants attempting to cross the EU’s external border illegally from the east.
The Taoiseach said Russian aggression and its regional influence are factors in Poland’s migratory situation, Polish Radio reported.
Harris’s Dutch counterpart echoed the sentiment, saying Belarus and Russia were weaponizing migration as a hybrid war tactic and, as such, the situation of people seeking asylum should be viewed differently.
Also speaking to journalists ahead of the summit, Finland’s Orpo said he fully understood Tusk’s position.
“We had the same phenomenon on our border one year ago and we did our national legislation,” Orpo said. “But it is not sustainable. We need European-level legislation against instrumentalized immigration.”
Migration has become an increasingly hot topic in Brussels with the rise of right-wing parties across the bloc. EU leaders have been coming under increasing political pressure to clamp down on inflows and shore up border security and repatriations.
Poland’s Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, was expected to explain to EU leaders Warsaw’s decision to temporarily waive the right to asylum.
Harris said Poland’s situation was not normal migration. Warsaw has accused Belarus of orchestrating an artificial migration emergency in collaboration with the Kremlin with the aim of destabilizing the EU.
Minsk is accused of enticing thousands of migrants from the Middle East and Africa on false promises of easy access to the EU via Poland. As a result, Poland has been dealing with large numbers of migrants attempting to cross the EU’s external border illegally from the east.
The Taoiseach said Russian aggression and its regional influence are factors in Poland’s migratory situation, Polish Radio reported.
Harris’s Dutch counterpart echoed the sentiment, saying Belarus and Russia were weaponizing migration as a hybrid war tactic and, as such, the situation of people seeking asylum should be viewed differently.
Also speaking to journalists ahead of the summit, Finland’s Orpo said he fully understood Tusk’s position.
“We had the same phenomenon on our border one year ago and we did our national legislation,” Orpo said. “But it is not sustainable. We need European-level legislation against instrumentalized immigration.”
Migration has become an increasingly hot topic in Brussels with the rise of right-wing parties across the bloc. EU leaders have been coming under increasing political pressure to clamp down on inflows and shore up border security and repatriations.
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