Poland is closing its borders: In order to stop illegal immigrants, the parliament in Warsaw has now approved the construction of a secure fence to Belarus.
The new border facility is expected to cost 353 million euros. Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski spoke of a “solid barrier that should be equipped with a surveillance system and motion detectors”. Polish government representatives deliberately avoid the term “wall”, which is used by the opposition.
In addition, the Polish MPs voted in favor of border guards being allowed to legally expel migrants who are apprehended after entering the Polish border area illegally. This practice of rejecting refugees was previously considered controversial. Parliament now allows officials to impose a temporary entry ban on such migrants for a period of “six months to three years”. Asylum applications from illegally entered people can now also remain unchecked if they do not come into the country directly from an area in which their life and freedom are threatened. With this regulation, Poland could come into conflict with international law: According to asylum law, states are obliged to allow migrants to apply for asylum.
Poland is reacting to the months of migrant flows from neighboring Belarus. The ruler there, Alexander Lukashenko, has been bringing mostly Arab immigrants into the country for weeks and smuggling them to the Polish border, where they want to enter the EU. This is intended to increase the pressure on the EU because of the sanctions against Lukashenko’s regime. Germany is one of the migrants’ preferred destinations. There, the number of refugees entering via Poland has increased seventy-fold since July.
But Greece and Malta also want to crack down on refugees: they reserve the right to continue to refuse boats with refugees, said the ministers responsible for migration in the two EU Mediterranean countries.
