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Brandenburg Interior Minister Michael Stübgen (CDU)
Photo: Soeren Stache / dpa
In view of the increasing number of refugees on the route via Belarus, there are demands for border controls at the German-Polish border in the Union parliamentary group.
"Without border controls you take all pressure off Poland," said the CDU interior expert Alexander Throm of the newspaper "Augsburger Allgemeine".
Otherwise, the federal government has no leverage against Poland, not to simply wave refugees coming from Belarus to Germany. The CDU politician also spoke out in favor of issuing a Europe-wide landing ban for airlines that would bring refugees from Belarus to Europe. "Then the direct route would be closed."
Brandenburg's Interior Minister Michael Stübgen rejects a closure of the German-Polish border to curb illegal immigration via Belarus. Stübgen said on Deutschlandfunk that this would result in collateral damage such as truck backlogs and major disruptions for commuters. The federal police already have an additional hundreds in action. These could certainly strengthen their control measures. Negotiations with Belarus and Russia are decisive, however. The CDU politician emphasized that the solution to the refugee crisis lies in Moscow.
Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas raised serious allegations against the Belarusian ruler Alexander Lukashenko on Monday: he was "nothing other than the head of a state smuggling ring."
He used "refugees as an instrument" to "put pressure on European states," said Maas in Luxembourg.
The EU accuses Lukashenko of deliberately smuggling refugees from the Middle East into the EU across the borders of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia in order to retaliate against European sanctions against human rights abuses.
Maas criticized that there were "airlines that also earn money with it" to help Belarus transport refugees to Germany or other European countries.
Therefore "sanctions" are appropriate here.
as / dpa
