An influx of migrants on the Polish border has led to renewed demands from member states for walls to be built across Europe’s eastern frontier. Physical barriers along the EU’s borders have proliferated since the 2015-16 refugee crisis.
Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has described the country as “under attack”, and has successfully pushed for legislation to begin building a wall along the country’s 410 kilometre border with Belarus. The wall will initially span 100 kilometres, with construction expected to be complete by next summer.
Thousands of migrants are currently stranded at the Polish-Belarussian border, despite Poland’s international obligations to allow entry for those seeking asylum. With temperatures falling as winter approaches, at least 11 migrants are thought to have died so far at the crossing.
Speaking alongside Morawiecki in Warsaw last week, European Council President Charles Michael suggested that the EU might be willing to fund the barriers for the first time, a plan opposed by the French government.
It comes a month after the interior ministers from Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Slovakia signed a letter demanding that the EU fund physical barriers along its external borders “as a matter of priority”.
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