On 8 October 2021, the minister for the interior Ms Marija Golubeva participated in the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Council meeting. During the meeting the Minister emphasized that strengthening and protecting European eastern external border is a common responsibility of all European countries, not only Baltic States and Poland.
Latvia, together with eleven Member States, has signed a letter calling on the European Union to strengthen the Schengen area against the hybrid threat, including from the Lukashenka's regime. The letter emphasizes the need to adapt the legal framework for future challenges instead of responding to consequences of the crisis (https://www.politico.eu/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/07/Joint-letter_Adaptation-of-EU-legal-framework-20211007.pdf ).
The Minister informed European colleagues about the current situation on the Latvian-Belarus border, reminding that the Lukashenka’s regime is organizing an illegal flow of border crossings.
Only due to rapid and decisive reaction it was possible to deter and prevent further illegal border crossings.
Currently ministry of the interior is building a temporary fence to strengthen the Latvian – Belarus border infrastructure. In parallel the Ministry of the Interior is working on a long-term plan to build a solid fence by 2023-2024.
The decisions made during the meeting can be found here: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/52344/st12574-en21.pdf
