EC describes border standoff over migrants as aggression against Poland
The European Commission has accused Belarus of aggression against Poland through its policy of trying to push migrants across the Polish-Belarusian border.
The migrant issue has dominated headlines in Poland owing to the plight of a group of people who have been camped for almost 3 weeks on the Belarusian side of the Polish-Belarusian border near the village of Usnarz Gorny.
The group, apparently led there by the Belarusian authorities, do not want to remain in Belarus but Poland has so far refused them entry.
European Commission (EC) spokesman Adalbert Jahnz told a press conference in Brussels on Monday that the situation on the border is a form of aggression against Poland and an attempt by a third country (Belarus - PAP) to "instrumentalise" people for political purposes.
Ylva Johansson, the European commissioner for home affairs, told The New York Times on Thursday that the Polish-Belarusian border standoff "is not a migration issue, but part of the aggression of Lukashenko toward Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, with the aim to destabilise the E.U."
In recent months, increasing numbers of migrants from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and other countries have been attempting to cross from Belarus into Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
The Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian prime ministers have accused the government of Lukashenko of planning and organising the current migration crisis.
