Lithuania plans to spend about €42 million to strengthen the border with Belarus
Baltic Ambassador to Germany Ramunas Misilius believes that the EU should bear part of the costs. But the press service of the European Commission has already warned: Vilnius will have to build the “Great Wall of Lithuania” at its own expense.
Analytical portal RuBaltic.Ru already wrote that Lithuania will not be Lithuania, if it does not try to monetize the struggle with Lukashenko’s regime. Fence off migrants is an excellent excuse to ask for (or even demand) additional subsidies from the eurofunds. Why not? Several tens of millions of Euros do not roll around.
Besides, Vilnius has an “iron-clad” argument. Ramunas Misilius correctly notes that Lithuania itself is not interested in illegal migrants. Through the territory of the Baltic Republic they try to get to other countries. For example, to Germany. The fence on the Lithuanian-Belarusian border is supposed to protect not only Lithuania, but also its western allies from uninvited guests.
In order to demonstrate the seriousness of the situation the government of Ingrida Shimonite ordered to urgently start the construction works. And then the European Union had to get involved – to sponsor construction of the wall, as it should, by 75%.
One can only wonder why the European Commission refused to allocate money to the project.
“The EC does not fund fences. Our funding is aimed at integrated border management solutions that ensure that illegal crossings do not go undetected, and which are linked to efficient and fast migration management and the asylum system”, – the EC press office said.
At the same time, additional funding as such is not denied to Lithuania. The European Commission adds that the Baltic republic can count on further support, including material support. But the thing is that it needs money exactly for construction of the wall. This is the most costly of the whole set of measures to strengthen the state border with Belarus.
According to the estimates of the Ministry of the Interior of Lithuania, the construction of the wall may cost about €15 million. The amount is ridiculous, of course. The Lithuanian-Belarusian border is 678 kilometres long; it must be fenced in two rows with barbed wire and signalling. And all that – for 15 million euro?
On the other hand, for a country with less than 3 million inhabitants, it is still a serious expenditure. The project of the Great Wall of Lithuania was launched with a view to European funding. But the authorities of the republic made a serious miscalculation: they started the construction works without agreeing on additional subsidies.
Now it turns out that the EC will not give money, and the wall will have to be built. Lithuanian authorities can no longer outplay the situation.
Probably, the attempts to get financial aid from the EU will not end there. Vilnius will try to convince its western allies that they, too, must invest in the construction of the wall on the border with Belarus. Why not? The argument “we do not finance the wall” sounds a bit strange, after all, the EU used to finance such projects willingly. For example, in 1993 the Seut Wall was built with European money, which prevents uncontrolled influx of illegal migrants and smugglers from Africa.
It is indeed an impressive 6-metre-high complex of barriers – with barbed wire, video cameras and even noise detectors. The EU did not spare any money for the Seut wall, as it was aware of its importance. In the case of Lithuania, the opposite is true.
Building a 678-kilometre-long wall that would be a real barrier to illegal migrants would require not tens but hundreds of millions of euros. Or even billions. Does the EU consider such spending worthwhile? No.
Even if we assume that a “hybrid migration war” is indeed waged against Lithuania, its scale is very modest.
“Thanks to the investigations, which were carried out in recent months, it is visible how this whole scheme works, starting with flights from Baghdad to Minsk every Friday, then a stopover at hotels in Minsk, belonging to the structures connected with Mr. Gutseriyev, then transportation to the border by the Centrkurort – the organization, directly subordinated to the Belarusian authorities, and then the very border crossing”, – says Maximas Milta, expert of the Lithuanian East Europe Studies Centre.
According to Vilnius version, Lukashenko deliberately brings natives of the Middle East to Belarus, so that they could besiege the Lithuanian border. Vidas Mačaitis, deputy head of the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service, linked the influx of migrants to the Baghdad-Minsk passenger air route. The question arises: how many illegal aliens can be transported to the Belarusian capital using this scheme? A couple of hundred a week at the most. Probably a little more, if we add flights from other countries.
In order to provoke a real migration crisis in Lithuania, the whole civil air fleet of Belarus must be engaged in transportation of Iraqis and Syrians.
“Illegal migrants are coming to Lithuania by the hundreds”, the local press wrote anxiously. Since the beginning of the year about 1500 illegal immigrants penetrated into the territory of the Baltic States. Western Europe, which experienced the worst migration crisis of 2015, is hardly frightened by this figure. Germany, for example, has seen refugees storming in by the hundreds of thousands. Lithuania, meanwhile, has refused to help its western ally.
“Germany in 2015 took in just over a million refugees short-term in fact in a matter of weeks, believing they could be spread quickly across the European Union. Since then, these refugees have been sitting in Germany and other countries have not shown solidarity with the Germans”, – notes German political scientist Alexander Rahr.
Six years later the boomerang works, and Lithuania is waiting for help from the rest of Europe (including Berlin).
But the West does not pay due attention to its migration phobias. A measly few million euros for the Great Wall of Lithuania – and they don’t even give it.
Alexey Ilyashevich, Rubaltic.Ru