Belarus migrant arrivals 'under control', says EU

Headlines 13:04 24 Nov, 2021

The commission estimates up to 15,000 people are currently stuck in Belarus

Belarus migrant arrivals 'under control', says EU

The EU says people's arrivals in Belarus are "under control" amid priority plans to now return stranded asylum seekers and migrants to their home countries, Qazet.az reports citing EUobserver.

"There is still some work to be done," Josep Borrell, the EU's foreign policy chief, told reporters on Tuesday (23 November). "But for the time being we think that we can consider the flow under control, the inflow under control," he said.

The commission estimates up to 15,000 people are currently stuck in Belarus, of which around 2,000 are close to the border with Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia.

The comments were echoed by European Commission vice-president Margaritis Schinas, who recently travelled to Lebanon, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkey.

"Flights from Baghdad and routed through Dubai, Beirut, Istanbul, Damascus, and Tashkent have all been halted," he said.

"Attention now will shift to returns. In order to alleviate the situation in the border, we are working to step up returns," he also said.

Asked whether there were any plans to help bring the most vulnerable into the EU, Schinas said it was outside the bounds of EU competence.

"These people either would return as many of them do through voluntary returns or will apply for asylum," he said, without noting that Poland is pushing prospective asylum seekers back into Belarus, making it impossible for them to apply for asylum.

Meanwhile, some 450 people returned to Baghdad from Minsk last week. The commission is now mobilising around €1m to finance returns, readmission, and reintegration from Belarus.

"Overall, this will take our support for return to €3.5m voluntary returns from Belarus," he said.

This comes on top of an additional €200m of border management support for Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia, also announced on Tuesday. None of it can be spent on walls or barbed wire fences.