New EU measures set to restrict asylum rights at Belarus border

BRUSSELS — The European Union on Wednesday proposed new measures that would allow Poland and other member states bordering Belarus to suspend some protections for asylum-seekers, raising concerns that they may undermine the ability of migrants to seek refuge in the bloc.

The proposal from the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, would extend the period that Latvia, Lithuania and Poland would be able to detain asylum-seekers while their applications are being processed. Aid groups said the rule change would leave applicants in a state of limbo and in increasingly unsafe conditions.

The three countries have taken a hard line against the migrants who have been trying to enter the EU in recent months, and the bloc has stood with them even as border guards have illegally pushed back migrants or refused to process asylum requests, violating EU and international law.

So the proposal announced Wednesday appeared to be another concession to Poland, Latvia and Lithuania and a likely deterrent for asylum-seekers, immigration experts and human rights organizations said.

“The commission seeks to apply fundamental exceptions instead of making sure that current norms and standards are delivered by national governments,” said Sergio Carrera, a senior researcher at the Brussels-based Center for European Policy Research.

The commission said the measures would be temporary and were aimed at addressing the emergency situation in Belarus by giving member states “flexibility” in dealing with asylum claims.

For months, EU officials have accused Alexander Lukashenko, the autocratic leader of Belarus, of orchestrating “hybrid warfare” by loosening Belarusian visa rules for migrants, most of them Iraqis, and later helping them reach the EU’s eastern border.

The main flashpoint of the crisis was defused last month after Belarusian authorities moved thousands of migrants from an encampment near the Polish border, and most attention has now shifted to repatriating the migrants.

Yet thousands remain stranded under freezing temperatures, and at least 12 people have died during the crisis in the forests on the Polish side of the border.

Ylva Johansson, the European commissioner for home affairs, on Wednesday acknowledged that the crisis at the EU border had receded, raising questions about the necessity of the new measures and how much further the EU was willing to go in accepting the tougher lines taken by the countries bordering Belarus.

Under the new proposal, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland could extend the registration period for asylum applications to four weeks from three to 10 days currently. The processing time for claims could be extended to four months, after which migrants are either granted asylum or sent back to their home countries.

According to Johansson, 8,000 migrants who came through Belarus are now in Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, and 10,000 went to Germany via this route.

In the short term, the new proposal would force the three countries to provide shelter, clothes and food to the migrants while their applications are being processed.

But it remained unclear Wednesday whether they would apply the rule or even process asylum claims. A Polish official said authorities would study the proposal but argued that it did not address the situation at the border properly.

Under EU and international law, anyone seeking asylum at the borders of the EU can file an application in a member state. Yet Polish border guards have pushed back migrants, including by force and by using water cannons and tear gas, effectively denying them the rights to lodge asylum applications. Lithuania has also closed its borders to most asylum-seekers.