This may include adverts from us and 3 rd parties based on our understanding. Lithuania's President Gitanas Nausea said on Friday that the EU needed to swiftly overhaul its asylum laws and erect a fence to defend itself from Belarus, which he said was weaponizing migration and pushing people into bloc. We also need to talk about a physical fence of physical border, which is extremely needed as a second measure, Mr Nausea said on arrival for a second day of talks among the bloc's 27 national leaders, long divided over how to handle migration. Maybe there will be three, four, five thousand migrants staying at the border at the same time or trying to cross the border in different places. We have to be decisive. The Lithuanian leader also called for Schengen rules to be reformed as a long-term solution to the migration issue in the bloc.
Speaking ahead of Mr Nausea, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo also said on Friday that all European Union countries must act in solidarity to be able to handle the rising migratory pressure and help those in need. The message to the external countries is clear - consolidate your borders and we will show solidarity with you with funds to better protect your southern borders, De Croo said. But the solidarity has to go the other way because it cannot be the case that a few countries make all the efforts to welcome the people who need help. For it to work at the European level, everybody should show solidarity. READ MORE: Czech PM blows top and slams EU for orchestrating energy crisis.
Whilst Luxembourg Premier Xavier Bettel told reporters that the European Union has to find the right balance to tackle the Belarus' migrant scheme but not strip people attempting to cross the bloc's borders of their fundamental rights. He said: These people are not being treated adequately, also by various European countries, and I am convinced there is room for improvement. All measures we take must be in line with human rights. We cannot strip people of the most fundamental rights, the right to asylum. The sensitive and divisive issue of handling refugees and migrants reaching EU territory is high on the political agenda of the bloc, which has recently noted increased arrivals via Belarus and blamed Minsk for orchestrating that. Polexit fury as Russia overshadows Poland concerns in EU talks INSIGHT Putin issues ultimatum to Germany as EU summit exposes bloc's divide ANALYSIS EU summit LIVE: Poland thrown under bus in bitter legal row LIVE BLOG European Union foreign ministers debated new economic sanctions on Belarus on Monday, including on airlines, to halt what Brussels says is a deliberate policy by Minsk to fly in thousands of migrants from Iraq, Iran and Africa and send them across the border. Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko denies this and blames the West for what he says is a looming humanitarian catastrophe this winter after migrants were stranded on the Belarusian-Polish border. On Tuesday, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer offered to send border control officers to Poland to help the country manage the influx of migrants from Belarus, adding that Germany could also offer logistical support. Estonia, Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said on Thursday that the EU should come up with a stronger response to the issue.
The situation in Brussels and the European border is very worrying for us We need a stronger joint EU response in this regard Kallas said on her arrival at a summit of EU leaders in Belarus. Up to eight migrants have already died at the border so far. On Wednesday, Polish divers found the body of a 19-year-old Syrian man in a river on the Polish-Belarusian border. The border guard have been looking for the man since Tuesday when they caught another Syrian who said he was pushed into the river by Belarusian services together with another man, PAP reported. Divers found the body on Wednesday in the Bug River, which forms part of the border between Poland and Belarus. His identity was confirmed by the other young man with whom he tried illegally cross the Bug a day earlier. We also found documents on the body. So there is no doubt that's the 19-year-old Syrian citizen, PAP told Lublin region police spokesman Andrzej Fijolek. He added an investigation would be conducted into the death. Rights groups have criticised Poland's nationalist government over its treatment of migrants at the border, with accusations of multiple illegal pushbacks.