Austrian Interior Minister Asks EU to Help Poland Protect External Borders

VIENNA (Sputnik) - Austrian Minister of Internal Affairs Karl Nehammer told the German daily Die Welt that he believes the European Commission needs to help Poland protect the external borders of the European Union.

"The European Commission must support Poland in protecting the external borders of the European Union and provide the necessary funds to build a solid border fence. The offer of assistance in registering migrants is a completely wrong move", the minister said in an interview published in the early hours of Wednesday.

Nehammer noted that Austria stood in solidarity with Poland and was ready to help in any way possible. If Warsaw asks for help, Austria will immediately check whether it will be able to provide assistance, the minister added.

On Monday, thousands of illegal migrants moved to the Polish border from Belarus. On Tuesday, over 2,000 refugees and migrants were reported to have set up camps near the border on the Belarusian side. Warsaw, Prague, and Vilnius have called upon the European Union to impose new sanctions on Minsk over the migrant influx.

Migrants are surrounded by journalists in a forest near the Polish-Belarusian border outside Narewka, Poland, on 9 November 2021. The group of migrants was later guided out of the forest by Polish border guards and taken to a detention centre.

© REUTERS / Kacper Pempel

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen slammed Minsk for using refugees for political purposes, as Belarusian authorities are believed to be providing undocumented migrants with visas on arrival and transporting them to the EU's borders to get back at Brussels for sanctions. Minsk has rejected the allegations, saying it can no longer suppress migration to neighbouring countries due to the lack of resources caused by western sanctions against the country.