After several weeks of crisis on the border between Poland and Belarus, the European Union hopes to stem the influx of migrants to its eastern border. Negotiations are underway.
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The European Union welcomed “progress” on Friday in its efforts to stem the influx of migrants to its border with Belarus, referring in particular to flight restrictions and repatriation proposals.
But there, some elected officials are getting impatient. Konrad Sikora is one of them: in his town hall in Michalowo, a few kilometers from Belarus, he speaks with concern about soldiers everywhere and about the life of his small community of 3,000 souls, upset by the migrant crisis. He organizes humanitarian aid, but fears an escalation. And if he points to Belarus and its hybrid war against Poland, it is up to the international community that he is angry with allowing the situation to rot: “I would have liked the European Union to get more involved. This crisis has been going on since the summer and the European Union is only just starting to speak, it is a few months late.“
“To sit and speak is not to act!”
Konrad Sikora, Mayor of Michalowoto franceinfo
First step forward: Turkey will ban Iraqi, Syrian and Yemeni nationals from boarding for Minsk. Europe welcomes progress. But seen from Michalowo, he is very small. Several thousand migrants are there, a few kilometers away, in the cold. Shaking his head as if coming out of a nightmare, Konrad Sikora sighs: “I just wanna get back to a normal life. “
The report by Marie-Pierre Vérot and Alexandre Abergel in Poland
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