Czech Republic and Other 11 States to Seek EU Funding For Walls Against Migrants

“Physical barriers appear to be an effective border protection measure that serves the interest of the whole EU, not just member states of first arrival,” they said in their letter to EU commission vice-president Margaritis Schinas and EU home-affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson.

“This legitimate measure should be additionally and adequately funded from the EU budget as a matter of priority,” they said.

The four-page letter was signed by the interior ministers of Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, and Slovakia.

It comes as the regime of Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko is shuffling migrants mainly from Afghanistan and Iraq to its shared borders with Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, leading to standoffs that have resulted in the loss of life of would-be asylum seekers.

Around 4,000 people have entered Lithuania, some 1,400 have gotten into Poland, and around 400 came to Latvia over the past few months. All three have since declared a state-of-emergency at their borders with Belarus, while also adopting new restrictions on asylum claims.

The letter comes ahead of a meeting of EU interior ministers on Friday, where migratory pressure on the outer rim of the EU’s borders will be discussed.

The European Commission has repeatedly said it will not finance fences and walls along the borders.

Tom Snels, a deputy head in Johansson’s cabinet, on Thursday also noted that border-crossing points needed to stay open even in emergencies.

“Even the Polish government agreed, in the council recommendation in the context of Covid, that borders cannot be closed fully and completely even with a global pandemic,” he said. And asylum seekers also qualified as “essential” travellers, he added.

Meanwhile, EU states have already started, completed, or announced plans to build walls along their outer borders.

In August, Lithuania’s state border guard service proposed a €150m, 4-metre high welded wire mesh fence along its 500km border with Belarus.

Poland has announced a 2.5-metre high wall modelled on one built by Hungary on its border with Serbia in 2015.

And Greece has built a 40km-fence on its border with Turkey to keep out potential Afghan refugees.