The EU will consider imposing sanctions on third-country airlines that play the role of smugglers and transport migrants to Belarus. This was emphasized today by the representative of the Commission, Dana Spina, repeating yesterday’s statement of President von der Leyen.
The list of airlines transporting migrants from third countries to Minsk is under consideration and the Commission is not currently in a position to announce the names of these airlines.
Foreign Policy Chief Peter Stano also said that Russia was among the countries on the Commission’s “radar” of transit and transit. Specifically, he mentioned fourteen other third countries, from which the number of flights to Minsk is considered: Morocco, Syria, Iran, Qatar, South Africa, Somalia, India, Sri Lanka, Venezuela, Azerbaijan, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya and Yemen.
Peter Stano reiterated that the Lukashenko regime orchestrates the wave of immigrants to the EU in an “inhuman” and “illegal” way. They locate customers-travelers through seemingly official roads (embassies, consulates, etc.), provide them with visas, airline tickets and transport them to Minsk from where they are driven to the borders of Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.
“The Lukashenko regime is behaving like a gangster trying to undermine the EU with a hybrid attack on its member states,” said Peter Stano. He also recalled that the EU has imposed sanctions on the Belarussian authorities in four stages. The sanctions target specific sectors of the country’s economy, as well as 15 entities and 166 individuals, including Lukashenko himself and his two sons.
To stop illegal smuggling of migrants from Belarus, the EU is preparing “stronger economic sanctions” against Minsk. The adoption of sanctions requires the unanimity of the “27” and the issue will be discussed at the EU Council of Foreign Ministers on 15 November.
Finally, the representative for immigration, Jens Adalber, said that according to the information available to the Commission, about 2,000 migrants are currently on the border between Poland and Belarus. He also stressed that the EU has repeatedly stated that it is “ready” to assist Poland through European agencies (Frontex, EASO, Europol), but that Poland has not yet requested EU assistance, unlike Latvia and Lithuania. Poland has not even asked for the help of the European humanitarian aid mechanism to help people trapped at the border as cold winter days approach.
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