On Wednesday 17 November, the national ambassadors of the Member States to the EU continued their discussion on the response to the crisis with Belarus, particularly in light of the latest conclusions of the European Council on 22 October, during which EU leaders asked the European Commission to put forward new measures to protect the EU’s external borders (see EUROPE 12818/1).
This debate was already held last week and involved a heated discussion on the possibility of using the EU budget to finance physical barriers at the EU’s external borders, after twelve Member States signed a letter to that effect in October, supported by Slovenia. According to a source, it was a meeting where there was “palpable” tension between the European Commission, which is opposed to this funding, and those countries who are in favour of such a measure.
According to another source, the issue was once again raised by a number of delegations on Wednesday, yet the European Commission simply repeated its position, preferring to reserve EU money for more sophisticated protection systems.
The discussion also focused on cooperating with third countries and funding programmes intended to reduce irregular migration to the EU. The ambassadors also discussed ways in which arrivals to Belarus could be reduced. They reiterated their expectations of the Schengen Borders Code, which will be revised on 1 December; they want the European Commission to include specific provisions for this type of hybrid attack that uses migration as a weapon.
In any case, it was not made clear during this meeting whether an extraordinary Council of Home Affairs Ministers would be convened. The Ministers will, however, have the opportunity to return to this issue on 9 December during their formal EU Council meeting; this will be within the context of an exchange on revising the Schengen Code, which will work side-by-side with a new Police Cooperation Code. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)