EU says its funding should not be used for barbed wire, fences

BRUSSELS, Nov 10 (Reuters) – The European Commission said on Wednesday that EU funding could be used to finance border infrastructure but should not be used to put up fences or barbed wire.

Thousands of migrants trapped in Belarus have converged on the border with Poland, where razor wire fences and Polish troops have repeatedly blocked their entry.

The Commission said that, through the EU budget, it supported border management activities, including border infrastructure.

“Our position is that European funding should not be used to finance this kind of infrastructure – fences or barbed wire – and according to the information that is not the case and there are procedures in place to make sure the Commission knows what European funding is spent on,” a spokesperson told a briefing.

(Reporting by Marine Strauss, Philip Blenkinsop)

Photo – Polish soldiers during the construction of a fence on the Polish-Belarusian border in the region of Zubrzyca Wielka, Poland. EPA-EFE/Marcin Onufryjuk