Verbatim report of proceedings

Wednesday, 10 November 2021 - Brussels

The escalating humanitarian crisis on the EU-Belarusian border, in particular in Poland (debate)

  Jordi Solé (Verts/ALE). – Madam President, using migrants as a retaliatory weapon and playing with their lives is deplorable. Marching them to the EU’s external borders and leaving them stranded is inhumane. All this deserves a clear and prompt response from the EU. The dictator in Minsk must know he won’t get away with it. But, regretfully, on our side, we only see wire fences going up. More and more troops being deployed to watch over the borders. We see pushbacks and we see people cramped together, hardly getting any assistance, freezing in hunger, or even dying.

As much as this is a crisis caused by a vengeful dictator eager to put pressure on us, it is a humanitarian crisis, and it must be addressed according to our core values and to international law. No response based only on security concerns. No EU money for new walls.

There has to be a European way to make things right when it comes to migration.