Ader calls for changes to EU migration laws

Ader told a joint press conference that the situation was “dramatic” on Belarus’s border with Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.

The Latvian president said the situation on the Ukrainian border was worrying. Threats to Ukraine’s sovereignty would require immediate action, he said. Latvia also faces “problems” on the Belarusian border, an external border of the EU, he said. He called on the EU and NATO to impose sanctions on Belarus “because sanctions work, and the Belarusian regime has realised the situation is untenable.”

Levits said EU regulations designed for “very different circumstances” should be reviewed.

Ader also called for the protection of EU borders to deter Belarus from further provocation.

Earlier, Hungary offered Poland help, Ader noted, and today Latvia was offered the same.

Ader said Latvia and Hungary viewed many issues similarly, and praised Levits for his role in developing the Latvian constitution. Both countries saw the union between a man and a woman as the core of the family, and the protection of Christian values and families as a duty of the state, he said.

The presidents also discussed the future of the Three Seas Initiative. Infrastructure development such as the completion of the Via Carpathia transport corridor, they agreed, was a key plank of the initiative.

Hungary and Latvia, as strong allies and members of NATO and the EU, are both responsible for the future of those institutions, Levits said.

Ader and Levits discussed issues around the rule of law in the EU, and agreed that it was a priority to find a common definition of the term.

Member states should be given the right to preserve their traditions and values within the framework of common principles and values, Levits said.