EU Presses 13 Countries to Avert Belarus Migrant Route
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The European Union is trying to prevent migrants from entering its borders while using that as a pretext to impose sanctions on Belarus and weaken it.
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European CommissionSpokesperson Peter Stano, February 28, 2020
The European Union said Tuesday it was pressing 13 countries to prevent their nationals from leaving for Belarus in a risky attempt to get into the bloc.
This EU reaction comes as part of Brussels' attempt to curb what it says is an "orchestrated campaign" by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko to "destabilize the EU" through attracting migrants to its borders in retaliation for Brussels' sanctions on Minsk.
"This is part of the inhuman and really gangster style approach of the Lukashenko regime," European Commission Spokesperson Peter Stano told journalists.
The EU has already successfully persuaded Iraq to press pause on flights to the European country.
The bloc announced Tuesday it was expanding that "outreach" to include 13 countries it sees as current or potential sources of migrants for Belarus to "instrumentalize." The EU also said it was "monitoring" 20 more.
Brussels has already contacted 13 countries: Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congo, Egypt, Georgia, Guinea, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.
The countries Brussels is "monitoring" are Algeria, Azerbaijan, India, Iran, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Senegal, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, and Yemen.
Stano also declared that the EU was keeping its eyes on Moscow. "Russia is being watched very carefully," he said.
"In Russia, we are observing the situation for its potential to manipulate people or instrumentalize migration, or for its potential for abuse from the Lukashenko regime," he alleged.
Stano added that the EU was working to impose a fifth set of sanctions on Minsk. "We are trying to explore all the possible means we have at our disposal to deal with the situation," the Spokesperson claimed.
Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement the EU was particularly looking at how it might sanction airlines the bloc deemed to be "active in human trafficking" by flying migrants to Belarus.
The European Union suspended Tuesday an agreement that enabled Belarus officials to obtain EU visas more easily - an adoption of a proposal the Commission announced in September as part of its restrictions on Minsk.
