On 11 February, the Deputy Director-General of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs, Beate Gminder, paid a visit to the Ministry of the Interior and met with State Secretary Dimitrijs Trofimovs, Deputy State Secretary, Director of the Legal Department Vilnis Vītoliņš, as well as other officials from the Ministry of the Interior, State Border Guard and Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs.
The purpose of the visit was to get acquainted with the current situation on the Latvia-Belarus border and learn about the preparedness of the Latvian home affairs services to respond to different scenarios. Participants of the meeting discussed EU external border security and migration management issues, including the EU's planned support in strengthening Latvia's border and migration system.
We can be pleased that Latvia's internal and external security remains a priority at the European Union level, including the protection of the eastern border. The common position of the European Union and its Member States is that our security is also the security of the whole European Union,” stressed Dimitrijs Trofimovs, State Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior.
As a result of the hybrid operation against the EU’s eastern border, strengthening border infrastructure has become a priority. Deputy Director-General and officials from the Ministry of the Interior discussed the availability and use of EU funds for the construction of border infrastructure, purchase of equipment and strengthening the asylum services.
As reported earlier, on 1 February the Cabinet of Ministers decided to extend the state of emergency declared on 10 August in Ludza, Krāslava, Augšdaugava and Daugavpils for another three months, i.e. until 10 May, taking into account the situation on the Latvia-Belarus border, as well as increase in illegal border crossing attempts in Latvia over the last two months.