EU’S eastern leaders demand wall on Belarus border

Neighbouring countries accuse Minsk of using migrants as a weapon against the bloc

EASTERN European leaders yesterday called on the EU to pay for walls to stop Belarus sending migrants across their countries’ borders in a “hybrid war” against the bloc. Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president, has for months been helping tens of thousands of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa to cross into neighbouring EU countries.

Some have already begun building short stretches of border fences.

The EU must act now to reform asylum laws and construct barriers to defend itself, as Minsk continues to “weaponise” migration, said Lithuania’s president yesterday.

“We also should talk about a physical fence or physical border, which is extremely needed as a short-term measure,” Gitanas Nauseda said, as the second day of a summit of European leaders in Brussels got under way.

“Because nobody knows what will happen tomorrow.

“Maybe there will be three, four, five thousand migrants staying at the border at the same time or trying to cross the border in different places… We have to be decisive.”

Mr Lukashenko is encouraging the migrants into Poland, Lithuania and

Latvia in retaliation for Western sanctions against Minsk over his regime’s crackdown on the opposition.

His government also forced a Ryanair plane to land as it was crossing Belarusian airspace so police could detain an opposition activist.

Arriving at the summit, Alexander Schallenberg, Austria’s chancellor, said “building a wall” on the Lithuanian border could be one method of defending the EU against what he called President Lukashenko’s “cynical policy”.

He acknowledged that the term “wall” would be hard to stomach for some member states, but insisted the EU should pay for it.

He added: “Why should this burden be paid [by] Lithuanian taxpayers?”

European leaders were locked in an almost five-hour jostle over whether to agree to Eu-funded border walls.

After the lengthy discussions, they deleted a clause in the summit’s conclusions that would have seen the bloc commit to “funding of physical barriers at the external borders”.

“The EU remains determined to ensure effective control of its borders,” they agreed instead.

Despite the alterations, Mr Nauseda described the outcome as a “satisfactory” result for Lithuania.

He added: “I think now our partners understand [well] the threat the frontline countries feel standing in the face of attacks from the Belarusian regime.”

Ursula von der Leyen, the Commission’s president, was “very clear” over a long-standing agreement with the European Parliament “that there will be no funding of barbed wire and walls”.