MESOP MIDEAST WATCH: EU Vice President to visit Erbil and Discuss Migrant Crisis on Belarus-Poland Border

ERBIL11-11-2021European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas will visit Kurdistan Region’s capital in the coming days to discuss with the Kurdish officials the case of migrants stranded on Belarus-Poland border, an official said.

Speaking to the EU parliament on Wednesday, Josep Borrell, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said Commissioner Schinas will travel to Erbil, Baghdad, Abu Dhabi, and Beirut soon.

Commissioner Schinas was tasked by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as the EU is struggling to find a solution to the migrant crisis and prevent the flow of more people from around the Middle East to reach Belarus and amass the western borders of the EU.

“There are many other places. And later, also to Ankara, to specifically discuss this crisis, which is putting European Union borders under pressure at the cost of human suffering and human lives,” Borrell said. “It is clear that the Belarusian authorities are using human beings as a tool for political purposes. This summer, it started from Iraq.”

The EU official commended Iraq’s decision to halt direct flights from Baghdad to Minsk and welcomed the closure of Belarus honorary consulates in Erbil and Baghdad.

“Iraqi people – mainly coming from Kurdistan – were told that the doors of Europe were open on the Belarusian border and were transported from Baghdad to Minsk and from Minsk to the border of Poland and Lithuania,” he explained.

On Wednesday, Kurdistan Region held a ministerial meeting to discuss the Kurdish migrants’ plight on Belarus-Poland border and decided to explore all possible ways to help those already stranded in the border areas and address the root causes which have led to the current rise in migration.