Poland mulls asking NATO to hold emergency talks amid migrant border crisis with Belarus
CBC
Poland, Lithuania and Latvia are considering asking NATO to hold emergency talks as they struggle to manage a tense migration standoff on their borders with Belarus, the Polish prime minister said Sunday.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he and his two Baltic counterparts are discussing whether to ask for such talks under the NATO treaty, which allows any ally to request consultations if it feels its territorial integrity, political independence or security is threatened.
Still, it's a step that has only been requested a few times in the history of the Western alliance.
The authoritarian Belarusian regime in Minsk has for months been orchestrating a flow of migrants across its border into the three European Union nations, which form the eastern flank of both the 27-nation EU and NATO.
In response, the three have been reinforcing their borders.
In an interview with state news agency PAP, Morawiecki vowed that Poland's border with Belarus "will be an effective and final barrier" to actions by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
"There is no doubt that things have gone too far," Morawiecki said.
Many migrants are now stuck in makeshift camps in freezing weather as Poland has reinforced its border with 15,000 soldiers in addition to border guards and police.
Most are fleeing conflict, poverty or hopelessness in Syria and Iraq and hope to reach Germany or elsewhere in western Europe.
The situation grew more dramatic last week as a large group of migrants appeared across the border from the Polish town of Kuznica.
More arrived there on Sunday, and Poland's Interior Ministry released a video showing police warning the people: "If you don't follow the orders, force may be used against you."
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