“The situation in Afghanistan is clearly unsafe and will not be for some time,” Johansson said at the meeting, according to a statement released on Wednesday. According to her, 80 percent of the people forced to flee are women and children. Around 550,000 Afghans have been displaced within the country since the beginning of the year, in addition to the 2.9 million who had previously fled within the country.
“Austria continues to deport Afghans according to European law,” affirmed Nehammer. At today’s meeting he will propose deportation centers in Afghanistan’s neighboring countries. The EU must give the target countries “framework conditions” and “negotiate on an equal footing”.
Greece’s migration minister, Notis Mitarachi, suggested that rejected asylum seekers be brought to Turkey: “We consider Turkey a safe country for Afghan citizens.”
Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, on the other hand, called for refugee quotas from the EU states. “We need quotas for refugees from Afghanistan who can legally come to Europe,” he told the editorial network Germany. Regarding the statements of his colleague Nehammer, the Luxembourger said: “That is terrible. It is desperate. Such populist sentences only stir up fear.” This is not a common European policy, but “only motivated domestically”. “We can’t shoot the people from Afghanistan on the moon.”
The aid organization Oxfam called on the European governments to “urgently ensure the evacuation of all endangered people from Afghanistan”. They also have the “duty to refrain from any form of forced return to Afghanistan and to protect Afghan nationals on the move,” said Oxfam migration expert Raphael Shilhav.
The special meeting of the EU interior ministers was originally convened because of the situation on the border between the EU state Lithuania and Belarus (Belarus). The Belarusian head of state Alexander Lukashenko is accused of dragging migrants mainly from the Middle East to Lithuania.
According to the Slovenian Council Presidency, a debate about a possible increase in the number of refugees who might come to Europe because of the situation in Afghanistan was not on the agenda. Work is being done to discuss the topic at a separate appointment.
Because of the large number of irregular migrants, Poland is now using the army on its border with Belarus. Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak wrote on Twitter that more than 900 soldiers would strengthen the Polish border guards.
Ministers show solidarity
At the meeting, the EU interior ministers expressed their solidarity with the states affected by the problem. It was agreed to send additional experts and equipment to these countries and to ask the EU Commission for additional funds, said Slovenian Interior Minister Ales Hojs in the evening.
After the Taliban captured Kabul on Sunday, the issue of Afghanistan came increasingly to the fore. The EU Commission announced that Foreign Affairs Representative Josep Borrell and Interior Commissioner Johansson would report to the interior ministers “on the latest developments in Afghanistan, with a focus on political, humanitarian and migration issues”.
