Estonian minister says EU external border protection must lead migration policy

Estonia must focus on protecting the European Union’s external border and supporting its allies rather than introducing controls at internal borders, Interior Minister Igor Taro told ERR.

“Our first task is to offer assistance to our allies. Secondly, we must stress that protecting the external border and ensuring effective returns of irregular migrants are the foundation for dealing with irregular migration,” Taro said. He added that closing internal borders should be a last resort, after all other compensatory and assistance measures had been exhausted.

Taro said Estonia could send teams of officials to assist its allies, as it has done in Latvia, but that no such request had currently been made. He said the incident in question had ended within 48 hours.

He also said the incident had not involved irregular migrants reaching Europe, noting that it had taken place in North Africa.

The situation involving irregular migrants in Estonia is stable, Taro said, but there is no solution yet. He expects attempts to enter European countries through Belarus to continue during the next two months, while the weather remains warm.

“The Latvians prevent tens of thousands of illegal border crossings every year. That means there are still very many people attempting this,” Taro said, adding that it could take time for organisers and migrants to understand that the route was not viable.

He forecast that migration pressure would decrease only after the weather became colder. According to Taro, subzero temperatures make it difficult to survive in the forest without special equipment, and previous years’ statistics have shown that the flow then slows significantly.

Taro said six more irregular migrants had been caught in Tammsaare Park in Tallinn on Monday.

Estonia has recently become a destination for irregular migrants who began their journey in Belarus and travelled through Latvia. During the past two weeks, 81 people who entered Estonia illegally via Belarus have been caught. Most of them came from African countries.

Migration pressure in Europe increased after an incident on Friday in which 60,000 migrants from Morocco entered the Ceuta enclave in North Africa, according to the report. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Italy had suspended the Schengen agreement with Spain after the influx. The Estonian government does not support suspending Schengen arrangements with Spain.