Belarus threatens Europe to block gas flows, Russia moderates the situation, Poland uses the migrant crisis to put pressure on Berlin and Brussels. Here because.
After the threat from Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who raised the possibility of interrupting gas flows to Europe as a form of retaliation for possible new sanctions, Russia – a great protector of Minsk – intervened in the affair. THE WORDS OF THE KREMLIN
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Lukashenko has not consulted with Moscow, and that the latter will continue to comply with its contractual obligations towards Europe. Russia is the largest supplier of gas to the Old Continent, alone is worth 40 per cent of the bloc’s imports; this year, 20 percent of Russian flows passed through the territory of Belarus, mainly through the Yamal-Europe pipeline.
Peskov speaks of contractual obligations not by chance: Russia is complying with the supply contracts stipulated, but in recent months it has resisted sending additional supplies of gas that can be exchanged on the spot market (the one that provides for an immediate sale). The aim of this tactic is to convince Europe to sign new long-term agreements, which Moscow considers more advantageous for itself. POLAND IS BLOCKING
The Yamal-Europe gas pipeline, the object of Lukashenko’s threats, starts from the Russian peninsula of Yamal (in Siberia) and crosses Belarus and Poland to Germany.
Matteo Villa, head of the ISPI migration program, told Adnkronos that there are tensions between Germany and Poland, and that the latter is exploiting the migratory situation on the Belarusian border – since the summer Minsk has been favoring the flows of thousands of migrants to the Polish border – to “play a card” with the European Union. In other words, explains the ISPI analyst, the migration crisis is not really as big as it seems, there are at most 2,500 migrants, but it is being magnified by Warsaw to snatch concessions and monetary aid from Brussels. In short, Poland aspires to be a new Turkey, which supervises and contains the Balkan migratory route on behalf of Europe, which subsidizes it for this. WHAT POLAND WANTS FROM GERMANY AND THE EU
The presence of migrants at its border allows Poland – says Villa – to exert pressure on Germany: “The Iraqis who arrived in Belarus all want to go to Germany and have no intention of staying in Poland”; in Berlin the political situation is delicate, a transfer of power is underway and the government does not want to show itself to be “soft”.
Through pressure on Berlin, Warsaw wants to obtain from the European Union “the release of its PNRR funds and, at the same time, push Brussels to turn a blind eye to the issue of the rule of law and divert attention from internal protests for the law. on abortion “. THE WALL OF POLAND
Regarding Poland’s idea of building a wall to protect its borders, Villa explains that “a country has every right to protect and manage its borders as it wishes, but at the same time a migrant has the right to seek asylum”. A physical barrier, therefore, does not solve the migratory problem that moves – as the situation in the United States shows – to the courts, which must examine applications for protection.
On Twitter, journalist expert on European issues David Caretta writes that the European Commission “does not finance the construction of anti-migrant walls. But it gives you a lot of money to place cameras, sensors and drones in it ”.
The Commission does not finance the construction of anti-migrant walls.
But it gives you a lot of money to put cameras, sensors and drones in it. https://t.co/jgJenglFvH pic.twitter.com/FGAH74Y7xk
– David Carretta (@davcarretta) November 12, 2021
