European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said Friday that the European Union will not finance “barbed wire and walls” at its borders, at the end of the EU summit in Brussels.
It’s a categorical no, the European Union will not finance “barbed wire and walls” at its borders to prevent the arrival of migrants, as demanded by 12 countries including Lithuania and Austria, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Friday.
“I have been very clear that there is a long-standing common position of the Commission and the European Parliament, that there will be no financing of barbed wire and walls,” the head of the EU executive said at the end of a 27-nation summit in Brussels where the issue was discussed.
Austria with Lithuania
Lithuania is building a barbed wire fence along its border with Belarus to stem an influx of migrants that the regime of Alexander Lukashenko is accused of orchestrating. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said Friday in Brussels that such measures were “most necessary in the short term to manage this crisis.
Poland, like Lithuania, has started to build a barbed wire fence on part of its border with Belarus. Hungary, for its part, had erected this type of fence on the border with Serbia and Croatia (a member of the EU but not in Schengen) during the migration crisis of 2015. Slovenia did the same with Croatia.
“If Lithuania builds a barrier (…) it should be able to count on our solidarity. It is not for Lithuanian taxpayers to finance this alone,” said the new Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg.
The interior ministers of 12 countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia) had written to the Commission on 7 October asking the EU to finance the construction of such fences.
“A physical barrier appears to be an effective border protection measure, which serves the interests of the whole of the EU, not just the member states in the front line,” they argued.
Several fences already built
Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson replied that countries had “the possibility and the right to build fences”. “But whether we should use limited EU funds to finance the construction of fences instead of other equally important things is another matter,” she said.
Poland, like Lithuania, has started to build a barbed wire fence on part of its border with Belarus. Hungary, for its part, had erected this type of barrier on the border with Serbia and Croatia (an EU member country but not in Schengen) during the 2015 migration crisis. Slovenia did the same with Croatia.
