In response, the Commission in June presented a new package of measures on migration, designed to increase the powers of member countries to return those ineligible to stay in the bloc and introduce a “permanent, legally-binding, but flexible solidarity mechanism to ensure that no EU country is left alone when under pressure.”
But countries bordering Russia and Belarus worry that those measures are still too timid to deter Lukashenko and Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“The current migration rules do not solve the security challenge that we can see, for example, on the eastern border of the EU,” said a diplomat from one of the countries affected, granted anonymity to speak frankly. “It is not the enemies of the EU that should decide who enters our territory.”
According to the diplomat, a meeting of EU leaders at a European Council this week should be used for “an honest discussion to clearly identify and understand the new types of risks. And then we should talk about EU-wide solutions.”
Domestic politics
Tusk’s move is causing dismay among human rights groups and creating tensions within his governing coalition.
“We would like to remind Prime Minister Donald Tusk that the right to asylum is a human right. Groundless suspension of this right, even temporarily, is unacceptable and is in conflict with, among others, the Geneva Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” Amnesty International’s Polish office said on X on Saturday.