At first it was only the neighboring states who spoke of Alexandr Lukashenko using migrants “as weapons” and waging a “hybrid war”. In the meantime, almost all top European politicians speak like this, regardless of which party: from Robert Habeck to Josep Borrell and Ursula von der Leyen to Charles Michel. It is then not far to the demands of Baltic and Polish politicians to involve NATO. Donald Tusk, opposition leader in Poland, also called after this this week: It was time for consultations under Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty, said Tusk. This is the preliminary stage for declaring the alliance case under Article 5. Something got mixed up in the excitement about the recent run on the Polish eastern border - linguistically and mentally.

The people that the Minsk regime has put on the march are undoubtedly part of a cynical attempt at extortion.

In their helplessness, wedged between officials in the no man's land of the green border, they resemble hostages who are no longer in control of their fate.

But weapons that wreak havoc and kill people?

The pseudo-tourists from Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan are certainly not.

There is also no reliable evidence that terrorists infiltrated this way.

Everything else is propaganda by the Polish state media that should not be adopted.

Being a negotiating partner is all

As for hybrid warfare, yes, it is true that Lukashenko is flooding the neighbors with migrants. He openly admitted that himself. But he is not interested in conquering territory, as Russia did in Crimea in 2014: with “green men” who were in fact elite soldiers. The migrants that the regime carts by the thousands to the border do not threaten the “integrity of the area, political independence or security” of neighboring states - that would be a prerequisite for activating Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty. They are certainly not an "armed attack" against a NATO member that could trigger Article 5. Lukashenko defends himself against sanctions, he wants to be recognized as a negotiating partner; that's all.

The fact that the ruler in Minsk managed to generate such excitement says more about his neighbors than about himself. They did not cope with the trauma of 2015: back then tens of thousands came a day - now hundreds are enough to join a European Union Panic 450 million people.

The 27 member states have been putting off the necessary reform of asylum law for years.

A situation has now arisen in which every country does what it thinks is right.

The border protection agency Frontex has its headquarters in Warsaw, but is not asked.

And Brussels argues about whether fences and walls should be paid for from the common budget.

Regular transitions too

There is no easy way out of this crisis, which Minsk has caused as much as the European Union has invited. But three things should be clear. First: the EU must not allow itself to be blackmailed. That is why there is no way around border barriers. It would also not be a legal problem to finance them from the joint budget, the corresponding budget title allows this. The Schengen Borders Code expressly states that border surveillance serves to prevent illegal entry. That is all existing law that the Council and Parliament have agreed to.

Second, whatever is financed from the common fund must also conform to common standards. This includes that there are regular crossings at a border and it must be possible to apply for asylum there - at least as a rule. If a state operates as a smuggler, exceptions should be allowed. But Frontex should watch over it; there is also a joint border protection authority. As long as Warsaw does not oppose this, it cannot legitimately claim the EU budget. The President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen would do well to explain this connection instead of referring vaguely to a “comment” that fences and walls are not paid for from the joint fund. A comment is not an argument.

Thirdly, people who try to cross EU borders by force may be turned away across the board.

That was decided by the European Court of Human Rights for the Spanish enclave Melilla in Morocco.

It can be transferred to other cases, and it shows that Europe can certainly assert itself without having to break the law.