“The European Commission welcomes the idea of a border fence to prevent illegal migration from Belarus to Lithuania, but will not contribute to the financing of such measures,” Spanish EFE news agency quoted European Commission spokesman Adalbert Jahnz as saying.
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According to him, there is no contradiction between the fact that Brussels considers it a “good idea” to build a barrier to prevent illegal migration, but does not allocate any European funds to this type of infrastructure.
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The Lithuanian government intends to build a hundreds of kilometers long barrier on the border with Belarus, which will cost an estimated more than 100 million euros (over 2.5 billion crowns).
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Lithuania has faced an influx of more than 4,000 migrants in recent weeks, mainly Iraqis and Africans. They came from Belarus and crossed the border illegally. Lithuania started returning them a week ago. The Belarusian regime has been sending migrants to Lithuanian territory in May in retaliation for the new sanctions imposed on it by the EU. Last year, only about 80 people came to Lithuania illegally from Belarus.
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The Lithuanian parliament is discussing a plan to build a fence on Tuesday. A spokesman for EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson emphasized that while the country had seen a significant increase in the number of immigrants, “this does not mean that European funds will be used to build this barrier. The commission does not fund any barriers, no walls, “AFP was quoted as saying.
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According to the AFP agency, the Lithuanian authorities have already started installing a barbed wire fence on the border with Belarus.
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The regime of Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko is under fire for actively organizing migration, especially from Iraq to the EU via Lithuania. Meanwhile, under EU pressure, Iraq has stopped flights from Baghdad to Minsk. In addition, Iraqi airlines have prepared a flight on Tuesday to repatriate Iraqi citizens from Minsk. This was stated by the Zerkalo server, which refers to the statement of the Iraqi ambassador to Russia and Belarus.
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“We are pleased with the very constructive approach of the Iraqi partners and their constructive reactions. The Iraqi partners are aware of the importance of this issue for the EU, and we hope that the situation regarding flights from Baghdad to Minsk will stabilize, “said a spokesman on the issue of flight cancellations.
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Orban’s fence has been criticized
A similar fence was built in 2015 on the border with Serbia, and later on part of the border with Croatia, also by the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. At that time, he asked the EU for about 400 million euros (over 10 billion crowns). At that time, many members of the union called the prime minister’s move inhumane.
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“The EU can support the improvement of border management, such as surveillance equipment, but the construction of fences or barriers at the external borders will not apply,” said European Commission spokesman Alexander Winterstein.
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