Airlines and other carriers that smuggle people into Europe or assist in human trafficking can from now on be blacklisted. This was announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The day-to-day management of the EU wants to hit carriers, also by sea and land, who are guilty of this economically hard. The board proposes sanctions if market permits or licenses are suspended, temporarily revoked the right to refuel or repairs in the EU, denied port access or imposed a no-fly zone over EU territory. “We will never accept the exploitation of people for political reasons,” said von der Leyen.
tensions
The day-to-day management of the EU is coming up with a plan due to rising tensions on the borders of countries such as Poland, Latvia and Lithuania with Belarus. Thousands of asylum seekers have been stranded there in recent weeks. Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko would have wanted to channel them to Europe in this way, in revenge for sanctions imposed.
This ‘hybrid warfare’ was made possible by airlines and travel agencies, the committee says. “People are being tricked,” said Josep Borrell, Vice President of the European Commission. He is referring to flights and trips that could be booked to Minsk for hundreds of euros. From there, refugees had to find their own way to Europe. According to Borrell, however, there is no question of the EU taking over stranded asylum seekers from Belarus, as Lukashenko wants.
People are being tricked
Measures
Since the outbreak of the crisis on the Belarusian border, Brussels has been threatening to take measures against carriers and has entered into talks with a number of national airlines and authorities. They invariably gave in, which halted the arrival of asylum seekers to Belarus. An increasing number of stranded asylum seekers are also voluntarily returning home. To help with this, Brussels is making 1 million euros available.
The EU countries are coming up with punitive measures against people and organizations involved in the conduit operation one of these days. This includes the Belarusian state airline Belavia, which is said to have flown refugees to Minsk.
To help Poland, Latvia and Lithuania strengthen their border security, those countries will receive a total of another 200 million euros from Brussels, after they had already received 38 million together. That money is emphatically not intended for building walls or erecting barbed wire barriers, the committee says.
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source https://pledgetimes.com/europe-blacklists-airlines-for-smuggling-people/
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