The space between - a short story about the situation on the Belarusian-EU border
by Olga Urbanek
In her speech from 23rd November, President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, rightly determined the President of Belarus, Mr Alexandr Lukashenko’s role in the humanitarian crisis taking place on the eastern border of the EU. While referring to her discussion with the US President, Joe Biden, she stated that: „We both agreed that this is not a migration crisis. This is the attempt of an authoritarian regime to try to destabilise its democratic neighbours.”[1] However, is he the only villain of this story or could the EU have done more to end the suffering of the migrants who came to its border lured by promises of a better life?
Since the first attempts of unauthorised crossings of the eastern border of the EU, countries implemented some solutions which should have allowed the border guards of each country to regain control over the borders. In September 2021 Poland instituted a highly criticised state of emergency in counties near the Belarusian border. Moreover, Lithuania’s border guard struggled to control illegal streams of migrants who were crossing the border with Belarus. In Latvia, the Parliament has decided to build a border wall and yes, it sounds dangerously familiar to the border built on the border between Mexico and the US under the Trump administration.
There are three main reasons which explain these extensive measures.
Firstly, the eastern borders of the countries in question are under special control since it is the border of the Schengen Area. This Area was created in 1985 and came into force in 1995. It lifted border control among the Member States of the EU. Whereas borders between Member States are void of border controls, the borders between the EU and the non-member countries are under the special control of Frontex. The countries such as Latvia, Lithuania and Poland can Frontex to help tackle the migration crisis. However, in the current situation, only Latvia and Lithuania embraced this support. The lack of interest in help from Frontex in Poland seems to indicate that Poland treats this issue as the country’s internal problem, as though the migrants were not crammed on the EU border.
Secondly, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia are under a duty to control their borders. Lithuania and Latvia are countries with small territory. An uncontrolled stream of migrants with mostly undocumented backgrounds could lead to a significant crisis there, which would be unviable to control by the public services. On the other hand, the government in Warsaw is trying to show Brussels with which it has had a difficult relationship over the past few years due to, among other issues, its contested reform of the Polish judicial system, that Poland is essential to protect the integrity of the EU. Moreover, the ruling party, Law and Justice, uses the current situation to press an anti-migrant and nationalist narrative which promotes the wrongful view that migrants who are stuck at the eastern border create a threat to the security of the State, insinuating that they are mostly terrorists and deviants.
Thirdly, this foray is also deeply connected to the emergence of the democratic opposition in Belarus in 2020. Due to the marches and protests organised by the opposition, Mr Lukaschenko’s position was shaken to the roots for the first time since he became the President of Belarus in 1994. Although the opposition is now mostly dissolved and its highest officials fled to the EU, the marches and strikes it organised created a new type of national identity and bond among Belarusians. Mr Franek Viacorka, the senior advisor to the leader of the Belarusian opposition, Mrs Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, said that Belarusians are now forever changed, after the demonstrations held in the summer of 2021[2]. Lukashenko’s power inside the country seems to be still wide, but his international position has been shaken, especially Belarusian relations with the US and the EU. By his orders for the police and army to march on the peaceful crowds, the EU and the US have imposed sanctions and refused financial aid, which destabilised the Belarusian economy, making it solely dependent on Russia. Lukashenko, by allowing migrants an unrestricted passing through Belarus to the EU border, tries to retaliate and destabilise the EU and undermine its unity. Consequently, it creates a difficulty for the European leaders to answer this crisis in a proper manner. They cannot submit to Lukashenko’s behind-the-scenes games. On the other hand, the lack of action on the EU’s part creates a narrative where the EU seems not to pursue the humanitarian values written down in its founding documents. Meanwhile, when Lukashenko, is trying to take his revenge on the EU or more probably, is fulfilling the wishes of his main ally, the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, there are people still locked between two borders. Their chances of being admitted to Poland through asylum applications before Christmas are minor. Normally, when a person comes from a territory affected by war, they are taken to a special facility where the asylum procedure is being conducted, in accordance with the Geneva Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights. In these circumstances, it is impossible, since the Polish Border Guard does not intend to help the migrants who were forced to camp out outside the Polish borders, even after the direct order from the European Court of Human Rights[3]. Some activists from “Grupa Granica” (eng. “The Border Group”) were able to talk to the migrants stuck on the EU border.[4] The activists’ statements make it clear that before they were transported through Belarus, they were lied to. They thought that Belarus borders with Germany, not Poland, and that Germany is a much more desirable destination for the people running from areas affected by war such as Syria or Iraq.
In conclusion, Mrs von der Layen was right. The EU is not faced with a migration crisis. It is a humanitarian crisis where people are suffering due to the lack of forceful decision of Brussels whether to allow those migrants to enter the Schengen Area.
During all the diplomatic talks and meetings, temperatures in the forests keep dropping below zero. The wind blows on the hastily splayed tents where unaware people hopelessly wait for someone to tell them what comes next.
[1] https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/AC_21_6254
[2] https://www.euronews.com/2021/08/09/the-struggle-is-not-over-for-a-democratic-belarus-view
[4] https://www.grupagranica.pl/files/Raport-GG-Kryzys-humanitarny-napograniczu-polsko-bialoruskim.pd