Opinions & Interviews
Lukashenko explains EU’s reluctance to hold talks on migrant crisis with Belarus
MINSK, 13 December (BelTA) – The European Union is unwilling to embark on talks with Belarus on the migrant crisis, Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko said in a recent interview with the Turkish television and radio company TRT, BelTA has learned.
The interviewer asked about the progress in negotiating the migrant crisis with the EU. “No headway has been made. They may be interested in this, but they don’t want to do anything about it. And they don’t even need to do anything. They just need a reason to put pressure on Belarus,” the Belarusian leader said. “Therefore, they do not take part in negotiations, though they appointed people in charge of negotiations with us. They are probably too busy. There are a lot of problems in the EU now, so we assume they have no time for that,” the president said.
According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, there are no talks directly with Germany either: “We now have no contacts with Germany. A month or so ago Merkel [back then Germany’s Acting Chancellor Angela Merkel] called me and we talked about the refugee situation.”
In the interview, the head of state once again dismissed the EU’s accusations alleging that Belarus and its government were orchestrating this crisis. “Indeed, if you accuse anyone of anything, then you need to have evidence. So, a brief answer to your question whether I am to blame for migrants’ decision to come to Belarus to get into the European Union would be: “Give me evidence! If you do, I will publicly apologize,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
He noted that people are fleeing from Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and other countries because the United States, together with its European and other allies, invaded these states. “We will not name the reason, we know it well. It is simple. And they nearly destroyed these states. These people [refugees] do not have a home, they do not have means to buy food and clothing for their children. But the worst thing is that there is no future there, especially for their children. Therefore, they became refugees and set off for where they were called - the EU, in particular, Germany, old Europe, like Great Britain, France, Italy, Spain,” the president said.
There are various routes that refugees use to reach the European Union, including the Mediterranean Sea, the Balkans, and recently Belarus, the president said. These people entered Belarus on absolutely legal grounds as tourists. "This begs a question: what international or national laws Belarus has violated as these poor people came here? We didn't violate anything. Therefore, there are no grounds for throwing these accusations against us," the Belarusian leader stressed.
He also recalled the fact that the European Union stopped fulfilling its obligations under the readmission agreement. "They have decided to pursue a certain policy towards Belarus and now they throw accusations against us. The claims that we bring people here from Syria, Iraq and even Somalia to transport them to the EU are simply groundless. Why are they doing this? In order to come up with the reason to exert pressure on our country," Aleksandr Lukashenko concluded.
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