The heads of government from Denmark, Finland and Sweden told the press before a European Council summit meeting on Thursday (17 October), that they backed Polish plans to close access to asylum seekers in case of increased pressure on the border with Belarus
Polish Prime Minister announced on Saturday (13 October), a plan to temporarily ban access for asylum seekers in an effort to curb what the country sees as instrumentalisation of migrants on its borders with Belarus.
Since 2021, Poland has seen increased pressure of migrants from Africa and the Middle East attempting to cross its border with its eastern neighbour.
Meeting the press on Thursday, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen welcomed the Polish initiative, “The announcements that have been made make a lot of sense,” she said, pointing out that for a while “there has been a conflict between ordinary people and the political layer in many European countries.”
“No one believes that people flee for fun […] but we simply cannot keep taking so many people into Europe,” the Dane told reporters on Thursday.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson was not concerned whether the Polish plan risks breaking international obligations. “There are risks in everything. I have great respect for the fact that a country chooses to prioritise national security issues in this obvious situation Russia, which is the enemy of many European countries,” he said.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo echoed his Nordic colleagues, “I very much understand Poland, Donald Tusk’s proposal how to secure their border against instrumentalised immigration from Russia, from Belarus,” he said.
“We had the same phenomenon at our border one year ago and we changed our national legislation, but it is not a sustainable solution. We need European-level legislation against instrumentalised immigration.”
In July, Finland adopted a law similar to the Polish proposal, allowing authorities to stop asylum seekers on the Finnish border with Russia.
Leading up to the summit, a group of countries led by Denmark, Italy, and the Netherlands met with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to discuss solutions.
According to an EU diplomat with knowledge of the process told Euractiv, that during this meeting, the Polish plans were met with understanding and wide support.
[Edited by Rajnish Singh]
Source: euractiv.com
