Theo Francken discusses the cynical Belarusian power play on Europe’s external borders

“As the European Union, you cannot accept that your Schengen border is under threat in an international power game because a dictator loses elections he has rigged. It ends there then, of course.” MP Theo Francken discussed the situation at the border between Poland and Lithuania on the one hand and Belarus on the other on the news show De Afspraak on the Flemish TV channel VRT.

MP Francken called for a return to basics. “We have an agreement within the Schengen zone of the European Union: we will open the borders to each other if we strictly guard the external borders. What you have now is security of that external border.”

No one wants to go to Poland or Lithuania

Theo Francken does not want the people who are now being chartered by the Belarusian dictator Lukashenko to the EU borders to be able to enter European territory to apply for asylum. “Practical experience has shown us that you will never get them sent back again. An asylum procedure takes time, months or even a year. In the meantime, these people have long since travelled on to Belgium, the United Kingdom or the country they really want to go to. No one wants to go to Poland or Lithuania.”

Massive fraud endangers the existence of asylum law

MP Francken also had a warning ready for what the crisis could lead to. “What we decided with the Geneva Convention is a wonderful thing. Protect people who are fleeing their countries. But because of the massive fraud in the system over the last decade, it is no longer tenable. What we are ultimately heading towards, including by dictators who blackmail our external borders in this way, is that the right of asylum as it currently exists will not be able to continue.”