Twelve member states ask EU to fund border walls

Interior ministers from 12 member states are demanding the EU finance border-wall projects to stop migrants entering through Belarus, in a further push towards creating a fortress Europe, Report informs, citing foreign media.

In a letter dated 7 October (Thursday), the ministers asked the European Commission to tweak external border-entry rules to include walls and fences.

“Physical barriers appear to be an effective border protection measure that serves the interest of the whole EU, not just member states of the first arrival,” they said in their letter to EU commission vice-president Margaritis Schinas and EU home-affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson.

“This legitimate measure should be additionally and adequately funded from the EU budget as a matter of priority,” they said.

The four-page letter was signed by Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, and Slovakia.