Foreign Desk Report
BRUSSLES: EU leaders have taken up the issue of refugees and migration on their second day of talks in Brussels. Energy discussions on the first day of the summit were overshadowed by a bitter debate over the rule of law.
The divisive issue of refugees and migrants was top of the agenda as European Union leaders met in Brussels for the second day of their summit. Their meeting came amid a surge of migrants and refugees trying to cross the Belarusian border into Poland, Lithuania and Latvia from countries including Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq and Iran.
Many EU leaders have accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of flying in illegal migrants to send them across the border, in an effort to destabilize the EU. Germany’s federal police said last week that more than 4,300 people had entered the country from Poland after traveling from Belarus since August, compared with just 26 registered from January to July.
Arriving for the talks on Friday morning with the 27 national leaders, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said Lukashenko was “weaponizing” migration by pushing people into bloc. He called for the EU to urgently revisit its migration policies and spoke of the need for a fence.
