Hojs: Poland can rely on full support from the Slovenian Presidency

12. 11. 2021

Ministry of the Interior

Today, Slovenian Minister of the Interior and the current holder of the Presidency of the EU Home Affairs Council Aleš Hojs held a conversation with the Polish Minister of the Interior Mariusz Kamiński about the current situation on the Poland-Belarus border, where, as the Polish Minister said a new illegal migration route is being established.

″We strongly condemn and reject the continued instrumentalisation of migration by the Belarus regime. It is unacceptable for Belarus to play with people's lives for political purposes,” Minister Hojs said. He emphasised that as the current holder of the EU Council Presidency, Slovenia stands by the side of Poland, as well as other EU member states bordering Belarus. According to the Polish Minister Kaminski, Poland is currently still managing the situation on the border with its own human and technical resources, while additional political efforts and pressure in the form of sanctions against Belarus will also be required.

The Ministers agreed to hold an extraordinary meeting of the EU ministers of the interior in the shortest possible time. The meeting will also be an opportunity for the ministers to reach a unanimous opinion on the financing of the set-up of technical barriers and other equipment from the European budget, in line with the appeal made by 12 member states in early October, the initiative that Minister Hojs supported at the press conference after the Home Affairs Council meeting in October.

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Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council has been closey following the situation on the external EU border (Latvia, Lithuania and Poland) with Belarus.

In August, Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council held an extraordinary videoconference meeting of interior ministers within the framework of the Council's crisis response mechanism (IPCR), which was chaired by the Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs. The ministers expressed solidarity with the affected states at this section of the external EU border and supported additional assistance. In October, the EU Foreign Affairs Council also had a long discussion on Belarus and the issue of migrants being pushed towards the border of the EU. Ministers warned against the political use of migrants by the Belarusian regime and committed to strengthen contacts with origin and transit countries.

On Tuesday, 9 November 2021, the Council of the EU adopted a decision partially suspending the application of the EU-Belarus visa facilitation agreement. The decision shows once again our joint commitment to continue countering this ongoing hybrid attack.