European Union foreign ministers have already agreed to extend their sanctions against Belarus to people, organizations and companies that exploit migrants for political purposes. It is not yet clear who will be affected, other than that they will be placed on a list of people who will not be granted EU visas and their potential assets in the EU will be frozen.
The European Commission is now also proposing a completely new system where transport companies can be penalized for contributing to or facilitating the smuggling of people into the EU.
It is the European Union as a whole that is being challenged. This is not an immigration crisis. Von der Leyen told the European Parliament that this was an attempt by an authoritarian regime to destabilize its democratic neighbors.
stop from airspace
The idea is that the European Commission will have the right to take immediate action against, for example, airlines or shipping companies, which in this case could be suspended from EU airspace, ports and airports, as well as revoke all kinds of permits and licenses. .
Meanwhile, Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson hopes she’ll never have to use the motion.
“What we’ve seen so far is that when airlines become aware of how they are being used by a desperate dictator to put people at great risk, they don’t want to be a part of it,” Johansson says over the phone to TT.
may come back?
The system should not be able to be used against, say, carriers that help, for example, refugees in need of ports in the European Union.
No, we have other regulations in place. Johansson says this new legislation covers an area that has not been regulated before.
At the same time, information from Belarus confirms that more and more migrants are allowed to leave the country and return to their countries of origin by plane, rather than being taken to the EU border, hoping to enter without a permit.
– We see that more of these types of trips are underway. It is opening in the right direction. It’s easier now, says Elva Johansson, but you can’t be sure you’re dealing with a system like this.
Linde in Iraq
In parallel, Foreign Minister Anne Lind (SocDem) during a visit to Iraq discussed the border crisis with the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister and the Kurdish Autonomous Leader.
Iraq has already flown home 431 of its citizens from Minsk, and plans to send another plane to take about 600 people home.
In his meetings, Lind emphasized the importance of Iraq accepting people denied asylum in both Sweden and the European Union as a whole.
– We have problems there because Iraq does not want to take back people who do not want to return to themselves, she said.
– They only want to receive those who return voluntarily. But our argument is that we cannot sponsor people who have no grounds for asylum.
Migrants, photographed in a field kitchen on the Belarus-Poland border. Photo: Maxim Guchek/AP/TT
Facts: Blacklist of carriers
The European Commission proposes that special measures target transport companies used to smuggle migrants or people. UNHCR wants to be able to:
* Preventing expansion and limiting the current scope of corporate activities within the European Union
* Withdrawal of the right to provide transport services to, from or to the European Union
* Withdrawal of the right to fly over the territory of the European Union
* Withdrawal of the right to refuel or make repairs within the European Union
* Withdrawal of access to EU ports
* Withdrawal of the right of movement across the territory of the European Union
* Withdrawal of licenses and permits issued by the European Union for the international transport of passengers.
Source: European Commission.
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