Migrants sent by Belarus combined with the threat of a Russian invasion of the whole Eastern European region. This is the reason why it is necessary to fortify the eastern border of the European Union. But, as the latest Eurobarometer shows, it is not just the European Commission and the Commissioners responsible who do not understand this. The deeper into the prosperous West, the less European citizens are aware of the threat on our borders as a whole.
Kindness to the unknown, misunderstood human rights and an open-door policy characterize the current European Commission. Its President, Ursula von der Leyen, has categorically refused financial support for the construction of a border fence because "Europe does not build fences." Her colleague, Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson, has promised to demand that Poland, Latvia and Lithuania amend the laws on the basis of which illegal immigrants are currently being sent back to Belarus. This would mean, in effect, taking away the only method and the only instrument of protection from the Russia/Belarus hybrid migration operation. And in this situation, Leyen's Executive Vice-President, Valdis Dombrovskis, is silent. He may be in charge of the future challenges, recovery and resilience of the European economy, but he is the big boss from Latvia. And yet he is silent anyway. Because there, in Brussels, the situation on the eastern border looks insignificant.
The Lithuanians have already signaled that they will refuse to comply with Brussels' order because it would mean introducing an open border policy for the country. Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks has also strongly criticized the pouring of water on the Belarusian and Kremlin mills: "If the European Commission goes so far as to call on us to change our migration policy and our reception of migrants, there is only one answer: as long as this kind of hybrid operation continues, no one in the European Commission can even hope that any of these countries will change their policies." This is what LETA news agency reports Minister Pabriks as saying. The European Commission's objections to the exclusion of migrants have been voiced in the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee. A very left-wing parliamentary body. But what matters to European citizens and what problems the European Parliament should tackle as a priority has just been identified in the regular Eurobarometer poll. The defense of democracy has been identified as the most important value to be protected. But real protection of the EU's borders and the security of the bloc seem to be a major concern mainly for the citizens of countries affected by migrant hybrid operations.
The European Parliament's office in Latvia has issued a public statement quoting Roberta Metsola, the President of the European Parliament: "As the citizens rightly point out, defending democracy is the most important European value above anything else. We cannot take democracy for granted; extremism, authoritarianism and nationalism are today rising threats for our common European project." This conclusion, putting nationalism and extremism in the same bag, is also fully in line with the left-leaning open-door policy that has been practiced for years and imposed on the Member States by the European institutions.
The European Parliament's autumn 2021 Eurobarometer survey was carried out from November 1 to December 2, 2021, in all 27 EU Member States. The first part of the survey explores European citizens' attitudes towards and knowledge of the European Parliament. The second part looks at the values the Parliament should uphold and the priority issues. The survey asked which of these issues the European Parliament should prioritize. Respondents were allowed to tick up to four answers. One of the answers given was "The EU's defense and security, including the protection of EU's external borders." And here are the results.
Border protection and security is considered a priority issue by 30% of people in Latvia, 27% in Lithuania and 26% in Poland. Meanwhile, in Belgium, only 15% of the population consider the protection of the bloc and its external borders to be important. This is lower than the EU average of 19%. And in influential European countries such as France and Italy, border protection is a priority for only 14%.
There are also significant differences between countries on the issue of "Migration and asylum". 42% of Lithuanians see this as a particularly acute problem, which is very high compared to the EU average of 23%. In Poland and Latvia, however, migration is seen as a lower priority problem, with 18% and 11% respectively considering it an urgent issue. These differences are probably due to different perceptions of how Brussels could tackle migration. The expected proposal from the European Commission is to let illegal migrants through border crossings and process their asylum claims, but this solution solves absolutely nothing. Basically, it would be legalizing illegal border crossings.
National special services have repeatedly reported that illegal migration goes hand in hand with the threat of terrorism, as radicalized individuals, including those linked to Islamic terrorism, cross the border illegally. But here again, Europeans differ widely. On average, 23% of EU citizens consider "The fight against terrorism and organized crime" to be a priority issue. Almost the same is true in Latvia - 22%. Less so in Poland - 14%, and in Lithuania - only 9%. In Belgium and France, where people still remember real terrorist attacks well, the problem is much more prominent in the survey, with 26% in Belgium and 32% in France.
Of course, all the problems in the world cannot be the most important at the same time. But from the point of view of the interests of our region, it would be valuable at this time to raise awareness of security issues, including the need to strengthen the EU's external borders. The flippant statements by senior European Union officials regarding the threat posed by the migrant hybrid crisis do not promote such awareness. It is no wonder that the call by the Baltic States and Poland for EU public funds for the construction of the border was supported by only 12 countries.
15 allies let us down. Life seems safer in the interior of the bloc than on the periphery.