Morawiecki at Merkel: “We also defend Germany from the wave of migrants”

Morawiecki at Merkel
“We also defend Germany from the wave of migrants”

The situation on the Polish-Belarusian border is tense. Warsaw calls for EU sanctions and makes it clear that no decision can be made without consultation. Merkel assures the country of German solidarity.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki have threatened new EU sanctions if Belarus worsens the refugee situation in the border area. Merkel defended her phone calls with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, which were criticized in Eastern Europe, are important for the EU to have a common stance, but also for dialogue. Morawiecki brought economic sanctions into play and called for EU talks with those in power in Minsk. “We are also defending Germany from a large wave of migrants,” he said, referring to the EU’s external border and criticism of the Polish crackdown on refugees.

Poland had previously reported a new incident on the border with Belarus. According to this, a group of around 200 migrants tried to enter the country by force. They had pressed down a section of the border fence with logs and thrown branches and stones, but were stopped by local officials. The incident occurred on Wednesday evening near the village of Czeremcha. Similar attempts have been made again and again in the past few weeks.

Merkel and Morawiecki accused Belarus of “hybrid” warfare. Accordingly, the leadership in Minsk ensures that migrants mainly from the Middle East or Africa come to the border in order to get to the EU from there. The Polish Prime Minister warned that refugees from Afghanistan would now also be brought into the country with the help of Russia. Belarus rejects allegations of targeted migration. Lukashenko demands that Germany in particular should take in migrants from Belarus. Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert and the managing interior minister Horst Seehofer had already refused this.

According to the Russian agency RIA, so far this year Belarus has arrested more than 11,500 migrants who were staying illegally in the country. About 5,000 had been brought out of the country, it said, citing the Belarusian Security Council. Merkel and Morawiecki, who later met Chancellor-designate Olaf Scholz in Berlin, called on Russia to exercise moderate influence on Belarus.

Merkel justified her talks with Lukashenko and does not see any appreciation of his person in them because the federal government has always made it very clear that his election will not be recognized in the presidential elections. The West had criticized massive election manipulation. Merkel emphasized that everything that was discussed bilaterally was communicated with the EU. There is a conflict between the EU and Belarus. Poland has “the full solidarity” of Germany. Morawiecki warned that no agreements should be made over the heads of his country.

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