Rush of migrants: Kretschmer calls for fences at the EU’s external border

Rush of migrants
Kretschmer calls for fences at the EU’s external border

The number of illegal crossings at the EU’s external border with Belarus has been increasing for months. After a meeting with the Commission President, Saxony’s Prime Minister Kretschmer speaks out in favor of a stricter pace for the Union. The border installations would have to be fortified – with walls if necessary.

Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer sees fortified border installations as an effective means of getting a grip on the influx of refugees on the EU’s external border with Belarus. “We need fences and we probably also need walls,” said Kretschmer. Even if it was so bitter and didn’t make for nice pictures. “Nobody is interested in walls, but now it’s about the European Union proving that it can defend itself.”

Kretschmer had previously spoken to EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels. It should also have been about the refugees who come to Germany via Belarus and Poland. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is playing a perfidious game. “I would like this European Union to be strong now and straighten its back. We mustn’t allow ourselves to be blackmailed by such a dictator.”

“Only then will the phenomenon come to an end”

Lithuania, Latvia and especially Poland should get all the support they need. “Only when the border there is tight and people can no longer be smuggled in will this phenomenon come to an end,” said Kretschmer. You have to tackle the crisis at the roots. On the one hand, it is about starting negotiations with the countries of origin. On the other hand, sanctions should be issued against airlines that fly refugees to Belarus. Thirdly, “physical borders” are needed, which will be dismantled again when a democracy is established in Belarus. In addition, they must be turned back and deported even in winter.

There is no question of treating people coming to Europe properly, said Kretschmer. But it is important to work with the same intensity to bring them back to their countries of origin. Word should get around there not to rely on Lukashenko and not to hand over his money to smugglers.

In response to Western sanctions, the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko announced in the spring that he would no longer stop migrants en route to the European Union. The number of irregular border crossings at the EU’s external borders with Belarus and at the German-Polish border has increased since then.

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