There was chaos on the border.Thousands of Middle Eastern refugees and migrants gathered at the border crossing to travel European Union, I hope life is better. After the authoritarian leader fulfilled the threat of “opening the door to Europe” for many years, many people were taken to the barbed wire fences on state-sponsored buses. But when people arrived, hope for a better life collided with police tear gas and stun grenades.
This is not the scene at the border between Poland and Belarus this week, but The land border between Greece and Turkey less than two years ago.
Dictatorship of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko I have realized that-as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan knew before him-desperate people fleeing war and violence can be pawns in cruel political games . This game can be played because the EU wants to stop illegal immigration at all costs, even if it means outsourcing border security to authoritarian regimes.
Maxim Samorukov of the Carnegie Moscow Center said: “Lukashenko is using the only language he understands-force-to try to reopen the dialogue with the European Union.” Already written. But the plan fell through. Poland has banned the media, NGOs and even EU officials from entering its border with Belarus, but has refused to allow immigrants to enter.The immigrants who were found shivering in thin blankets in no man’s land were once compared to Kick around like a football, Are neither allowed to enter Poland nor return to Belarus. Further north, Lithuania reportedly adopted a similar strategy along its 420-mile border with Belarus.
If Lukashenko expects Poland Lithuania has been severely criticized for its treatment of its people — and rekindling divisions within the European Union — he was wrong.
Six years after the immigration crisis, when one million asylum-seekers entered the European Union, the EU’s door was closed. Although Germany’s outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel was widely praised for his humanitarian gesture of welcoming Syrian asylum seekers in 2015, most EU officials learned a different lesson: she was wrong. “The combinationWe did it (We can do this) without any consultation… and [mandatory] A former senior EU official told the Guardian that it was a mistake to redistribute refugee quotas within the EU.
The second lesson the EU has learned from 2015 is that it needs stronger external borders. In 2021, the topic of Brussels is the wall, not the We did it“Compared with five years ago, we are really in a different situation. We have to realize that in some parts of the world, physical barriers are necessary,” said a senior diplomat from an EU member state who was There is a lot of debate over common funding for exterior walls and fences.
If anything, in the short term, when the Polish nationalist government is under scrutiny for undermining the rule of law, the crisis has strengthened the unity of the European Union. During a recent visit to Warsaw, European Council President Charles Michel stated that Poland’s borders are facing a major crisis: “This is the crisis we are dealing with. This requires the unity and unity of the entire European Union.”
In March 2020, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, flew to the Greek-Turkish border with a similar tone. Praising Greece as the “shield” of EuropeTen years ago, the European Union was bargaining with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who took advantage of the EU’s fears. Demand billions Prevent people from crossing the Mediterranean in small boats. Since 2017, EU funds Libyan Coast Guard, Paid to intercept the people in the Mediterranean, even though Understand the widespread human rights violations And the unexplained disappearance of the returnees.
But there are some important differences between Turkey, Libya and Belarus. Turkey has been hosting more than 4 million refugees, ensuring that the EU has pledged to spend 6 billion euros in assistance. For many years, Libya has been the gate for people from all over Africa who want to travel to Europe.Compared with these countries, Belarus has created this crisis. There are reports that there are state-backed travel agencies. Provide visa-hotel package deals to fulfill the false promise of walking from Minsk to the EU border. (The distance is approximately 200 miles).
However, Lukashenko looks unlikely to gain anything.He did not open to the EU, but triggered Further sanctions on the regime, And promised to take more stringent measures.
Although the diplomatic quarrel continued, thousands of people were trapped in no man’s land on the eastern border of the European Union as the winter temperature dropped sharply.
The diplomats said they wanted to help organize repatriation flights, but only from Belarus, Not from the European Union. As the humanitarian crisis escalates, there will be no gaps in the European fortresses.
