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06 December 2021, 11:17

FM: EU is yet to act on its many promises to help solve migrant crisis

MINSK, 6 December (BelTA) - The behavior of the European Union countries on the Belarusian border is absolutely different from the European democratic values that they preach, Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei said in an interview with the Belarus 1 TV channel following a meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council in Stockholm, BelTA has learned.

"We raised the topic related to the migrant situation on the Belarus-EU border at all levels, at all meetings. We also raised the topic related to the behavior of neighboring countries, which is absolutely different from the European democratic values that they preach about," Vladimir Makei emphasized.

The minister noted that the OSCE is not directly involved in resolving the migrant crisis. Belarus is working with the international organizations such as the International Organization for Migration, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNICEF and other organizations.

“These organizations and our public associations, like the Belarus Red Cross, are the only ones that help us and collaborate with us. At the same time, the European Union that promised a lot and sent a technical mission that refused even to meet with migrants, has not provided any help yet, it has only made statements. We are trying to explain the situation: “Colleagues, let's work together to convince these two thousand people who persistently want to get into the European Union to fly back home or let's find an opportunity to help them reunite with their families who live in Germany, the Netherlands and in some other countries. We have seen nothing, except for the well-known telephone conversations and trips of some technical missions,” the diplomat noted.

According to Vladimir Makei, at the meetings in Stockholm, he informed his foreign counterparts about the situation and the attitude of the European Union to the problem. The foreign diplomats, in turn, raised these issues at their meetings.

“I did not ask for a meeting with Mr. Borrell [EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy] realizing that it was useless. I asked my colleagues to convey our position to him. As far as I know, they did. We will see what happens next. For our part, we are doing everything we can to resolve this situation, either by helping migrants, who entered our country legally, to return home or by trying to convince those who are still staying here to make an informed decision. The problem is that most of these people want to go to the European Union to reunite with their families. Our suggestion was to try to convince them to make some final decision. Unfortunately, we are yet to see some concrete action on the part of the European partners,” the minister said.

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