EU to states: ‘Prevent Belarusians who have fled to Europe from becoming stateless’

Brussels – The Europe of states is at a crossroads: either grant citizenships to Belarusians residing on EU soil or accept that in order not to find themselves stateless and without citizenship, they return to their homeland with all that that entails: imprisonment and persecution. EU institutions are beginning to ask the question. The citizenship law changes introduced in late 2022 allow easy deprivation of citizenship to anyone considered ‘ungrateful’ to President Alexander Lukashenko and anyone too critical of the government.

The European Commission cannot issue passports as member states have the exclusive prerogative. In addition, Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson notes that the EU executive “cannot create citizenship programs to protect” those at risk of becoming invisible. The only thing that Brussels can do is to set up a sort of control room to coordinate work and promote dialogue between and with member states to work on a solution.

The Council of Europe estimates that between 200 thousand and 500 thousand people have left Belarus after the disputed 2020 elections and the resulting unrest. Numbers that worry Janina Ochojska, an outgoing Polish MEP from the EPP who, with a parliamentary question, warns that “many exiled Belarusians, including members of the opposition, activists, human rights defenders, journalists, and lawyers, currently fear statelessness or are forced to return to their home country, where they risk political prosecution and arbitrary arrest.”

EU member states must then decide what to do, whether to play Lukashenko’s game or naturalize as many people as the population of Malta. The Commission’s only appeal is for responsibility and respect for fundamental rights. According to Johansson, it is “vital importance to ensure that Belarusian residents in the EU have access to identity and travel documents and have avenues of regularizing their stay despite not having access to consular services.” Waiting for a new nationality; now it’s up to governments.