Europe 1 with AFP 6:41 p.m., October 29, 2021, modified at 6:42 p.m., October 29, 2021

Poland is well on its way to building a wall against the influx of migrants from Belarus. The Polish Parliament has indeed definitively validated Friday the government plan to build a wall on the border between the two countries. The cost of the wall is estimated at 353 million euros and it must extend over more than 100 kilometers.

Donald Trump's ideas seem to have reached the Old Continent.

The Polish Parliament definitively validated on Friday the government's plan to build a wall on the border with Belarus to prevent migrants and refugees from crossing into Poland.

The cost of the wall is estimated at 353 million euros and it is to extend over 100 kilometers to the eastern border of the European Union.

President Andrzej Duda had announced that he would enact this law as soon as it was approved by Parliament.

A migration crisis and tensions 

Thousands of migrants, mostly from the Middle East, have crossed or attempted to cross the border from Belarus since the summer.

The European Union accuses Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of bringing in Middle Eastern and African nationals to Minsk and then pushing them across the borders of Lithuania, Latvia and Poland in retaliation for sanctions the economic consequences inflicted by the EU on his regime.

In response, Poland imposed a state of emergency in the border area, dispatched thousands of soldiers there and legalized the controversial practice of direct refoulement.

Non-governmental organizations have warned of the increasingly dangerous weather conditions for people.

Poland is one of twelve EU member states which last week asked the European Union to fund the erection of "barriers" at their borders.

Polish wall: how is the European Union reacting?

However, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Brussels would not fund the construction of barriers at the EU's borders. Ursula Von der Leyen, last week reminded the leaders meeting in summit in Brussels of a common position of the Commission and the European Parliament saying that "there will be no financing of barbed wire and walls". Insisting that Poland is "under attack" by Belarus, nationalist Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said last week that the wall was essential to "protect" Poland.

The state of emergency, which prevents journalists and charities from approaching the border, has proved particularly controversial and the EU has called for "transparency".

The United Nations called for urgent action eight days ago to save lives and avoid suffering at the border between the EU and Belarus, after the deaths of several asylum seekers.