EC says border standoff over migrants part of aggression against Poland
The European Commission believes the situation that has trapped migrants on the Belarusian side of the Poland-Belarus border results from the aggressive policy adopted by the Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, against Poland.
A group of migrants have been camped for more than two weeks at Usnarz Gorny on the Belarusian side of the Polish-Belarusian border. The group do not want to remain in Belarus but Poland has refused them entry.
"This area between the Poland and Belarus borders is not a migration issue, but part of the aggression of Lukashenko toward Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, with the aim to destabilize the E.U.," Ylva Johansson, the European commissioner for home affairs, said in a Thursday interview with The New York Times daily.
The spokesman for the European Commission (EC), Christian Wigand, told PAP on Friday that this was also the position of the European Union, which had been expressed previously by EU foreign ministers.
The Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian prime ministers have accused the government of Lukashenko of planning and organising the current migration crisis on the Belarusian border.
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.
