Financing of European border protection

24.11.2021

Question for written answer  E-005263/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Jérôme Rivière (ID)

While migrants instrumentalised by the Belarusian regime are attacking the Polish border, sometimes accompanied by cries of ‘Allahu Akbar’, 12 EU Member States are rightly demanding EU funding for the construction of a wall to protect the EU’s external borders.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said ‘there will be no funding of barbed wire and walls’. The Commission prefers to reserve European money for ‘more sophisticated’ systems. Meanwhile, Frontex is being singled out and uncertainties remain about the budget allocated to border protection for 2022.

Will the Commission continue to refuse to allocate specific resources for border protection when countries such as Greece, Lithuania and Poland are facing a real threat? If it rejects simple solutions, what tangible proposals is it offering so as to provide genuine protection for the people of Europe against foreign powers blackmailing them over the migration issue?