On Tuesday, the Finnish parliament will discuss the construction of a fence on the border between Finland and Russia. If the plan is successful, Finland will certainly not have the first time. Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, only border fences have been added in Europe.
The Finnish fence is expected to close 10 to 20 percent of the 1,300-kilometer-long border to fleeing Russians. The project will cost hundreds of millions of euros, he reports The Helsinki Times.
Many European countries preceded Finland. The EU now has more than 2,000 kilometers of walls and fences to stop migrants, according to a recent report Research. That while after the fall of the Berlin wall almost all the fences had disappeared.
Most of the fences were installed around 2015, at the height of the refugee crisis. The Hungarian government, led by Viktor Orbán, has decided to put miles of fences along the Serbian and Croatian borders. According to Orbán, the European Union has not done enough to stop the flow of refugees.
Slovenia also erected a fence on the border with Croatia that year. Greece built one near the border with North Macedonia.
The EU has 2,000 kilometers of fences. The external border of the union is about 15,000 kilometers long.
The EU has 2,000 kilometers of fences. The external border of the union is about 15,000 kilometers long.
Migrants as a political weapon
The fences and border walls are also getting closer to our country. For example, in Calais, France, where many migrants try to reach the UK. To counter this, a 4 meter high wall was erected in 2016.
The most recent wall is in Poland. In the summer of 2021, many migrants entered the country via Belarus. President Alexander Lukashenko used migrants as a “political weapon” because he claimed the EU did not recognize his electoral gains.
This year, Poland completed construction of the 186-kilometer-long wall abyss. The metal construction is controversial: the bodies of migrants were found near the wall. They probably died from exhaustion or hypothermia.
The wall also cuts through vulnerable nature, such as Bialowieza Forest. This is the last virgin forest in Europe.
The wall on the Polish-Belarusian border.
The wall on the Polish-Belarusian border. Photo: Getty Images
European Commission not in favor
Twelve European countries asked the European Commission for money for fences last year. These were Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. For example, Greece fears that its neighbor and rival Turkey will use the same tactics as Belarus.
“We believe that security on our borders is the same as that of the entire EU,” said deputy Takis Theodorikakos. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was clear. “There will never be funding for the barbed wire and the walls,” she said. According to the Commission, fences are not effective in preventing (illegal) migration.
Experts agree. In a recent report from the Institute for Migration Policies He says that walls do not stop migration: migratory flows are simply displaced. There are countless ways to get around walls, for example with tunnels, stairs, fake documents or corruption.
From another to analyze shows that migrants are more likely to settle in a country permanently because of the walls. This is because workers who cannot travel freely to and from the host country are more likely to take families with them.
