Finland's president Sauli Niinistö has called for EU member states to work together on finding a solution to the issue of an upsurge in the number of undocumented asylum seekers arriving at border checkpoints.
"One concrete measure, in my opinion, might be to raise the discussion once again at the European Union level because the question is of EU borders, not only Polish, Finnish or national borders," Niinistö said, adding that he considers it "impossible" that each country could solve the solution on its own.
"This emphasises the importance of having European Union-wide solutions," he said.
Finland's government decided last week to close four checkpoints along its eastern border with Russia due to suspicions that Russian border officials were deliberately funneling undocumented asylum seekers to the Finnish side.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday following a meeting with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda in Warsaw, Niinistö noted that Poland experienced similar challenges on its own border recently — a reference to Belarus pushing asylum seekers onto the Polish and Lithuanian borders in 2021.
"All these experiences are very valuable to us, because Poland has seen this now already for two years," he said.
Duda stated that the situation along Finland's eastern border is being caused by a "Russian hybrid operation" and reiterated Niinistö's point that this was not just Finland's border, but the EU's as well.
The Polish president added that his nation is ready to help Finland manage the situation on the eastern border, if help is needed.
President Niinistö is on a two-day trip to Poland, which could be his last official state visit of his two-term presidency. The leaders were scheduled to discuss bilateral relations and the ongoing security situation, with a particular emphasis on the border issue.
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