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Robert Habeck demands that humanitarian standards must also be complied with (archive image)
Photo: Michael Kappeler / dpa
Green co-leader Robert Habeck advocates EU-wide support for Poland in accepting refugees who come to the country via Belarus. “In any case, we have to stand by Poland and distribute the refugees from Belarus in Europe,” Habeck told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung”. One must also remember that humanitarian standards must be observed. The Polish government, which is led by the right-wing conservative PiS party, must be supported on this issue, even if it has so far always refused to take in refugees, the Süddeutsche Zeitung quotes Habeck's conversation in the FAS.
Habeck also advocates tightening the sanctions against the Belarusian regime under Alexander Lukashenko - in the area of Belarusian potash exports, against "all those who support the regime at a higher level" and against airlines that bring refugees to Belarus.
Lukashenko used people for "hybrid warfare," the "SZ" quotes the Greens co-chief.
However, the EU must not give in to this “blackmail”.
At the end of May, the Belarusian ruler announced that he would no longer prevent refugees from continuing to travel to the EU in response to tightened sanctions against the former Soviet republic.
The EU and the Polish government accused Lukashenko of deliberately bringing refugees to the EU's external border.
tfb / Reuters