The European Commission will establish a “black list” of companies complicit in the smuggling of migrants to Belarus – archyde

The European Commission will ban the leasing of European planes to the Belarusian company Belavia and establish a ” blacklist “ aimed at sanctioning transport and travel companies which are complicit in the smuggling of migrants by the Lukashenko regime as far as European borders, the presidents of the European institutions announced on Tuesday 23 November.

“The majority of Belavia’s fleet is made up of planes leased from EU companies [Union européenne] “, underlined the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, in front of the European Parliament meeting in plenary in Strasbourg. “A decision will be made to put an end to this. It is imminent ”, he announced.

The European Commission, for its part, announced the tabling of a bill to sanction “Companies complicit in trafficking and smuggling of migrants”, according to its president, the German Ursula von der Leyen. “This proposal will have to be adopted in codecision by the States and the Parliament”, she clarified.

“Infamous false promises”

In particular, Poland has faced in recent weeks a large influx of migrants, mainly from the Middle East, to its border. “Europe is not confronted with a migratory crisis but with an attempt at destabilization by a totalitarian regime not recognized by the EU”, stressed Ursula von der Leyen. “The whole Union is being challenged”, she insisted.

The President of the European Commission added:

“The strategy of the Belarusian regime relies very concretely on the complicity of tour operators and their intermediaries. There are indeed specialized travel agencies that offer all-inclusive offers: visa, plane ticket, hotel and quite cynically taxis and buses to the border. (…) These migrants are deceived by infamous false promises. “

“This is why we propose to establish a blacklist for all means and modes of transport, on the basis of international legislation on trafficking and smuggling of migrants”, she clarified.