Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa said on Sunday the European Union would not set up "humanitarian corridors" for Afghan immigrants. The prime minister in a tweeted statement said, "we will not recur the 2015 strategic mistake with respect of refugees' inflow to Europe." EU member states will "protect our outer borders," he said, affirming the EU countries' resolve to prevent influx of Afghans. However, he indicated that the countries would aid the Afghans who had aided the European missions in Afghanistan. Europe had to grapple with incoming large numbers of refugees and immigrants in the past years — particularly from the Levant and northern Africa. Several European leaders have expressed fears of another massive influx of refugees — this time from Afghanistan — even as EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said Saturday it was a "moral duty" to aid those fleeing the Taliban. Von der Leyen and EU Council President Charles Michel on Saturday visited a reception center for evacuees established by Spain's government near Madrid. "This resettlement of vulnerable people is of utmost importance. It is our moral duty," Von der Leyen said. Offering "legal and safe routes globally, organized by us the international community, for those who need protection" must be a priority of next week's G7 meeting on the Afghanistan crisis, she added. The EU's top two officials were touring a facility that Spain has set up at the Torrejón military airbase along with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who said it has the capacity to hold 800 people. But several European leaders have already expressed fears of another wave of refugees that the Continent will struggle to accommodate. Haunted by a 2015 migration crisis fueled by the Syrian and Libyan wars, European leaders desperately want to avoid another large-scale influx of refugees and migrants from Afghanistan. Except for those who helped Western forces in the country's two-decade war, the message to Afghans considering fleeing to Europe is: If you must leave, go to neighboring countries, but don't come here. French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday stressed that, "Europe alone cannot shoulder the consequences" of the situation in Afghanistan, adding that the bloc "must anticipate and protect ourselves against significant irregular migratory flows". European Union officials told a meeting of interior ministers this week that the most important lesson from 2015 was not to leave Afghans adrift and that without urgent humanitarian help they will start moving toward Europe, according to a confidential German diplomatic memo obtained by The Associated Press. Austria, among the EU's migration hardliners, suggested setting up "deportation centers" in countries neighboring Afghanistan so that EU countries can deport Afghans who have been denied asylum even if they cannot be sent back to their homeland. The desperate scenes of people clinging to aircraft taking off from Kabul's airport have only deepened Europe's anxiety over a potential refugee crisis. The US and NATO allies are scrambling to evacuate thousands of Afghans who fear they'll be punished by the Taliban for having worked with Western forces. But other Afghans are unlikely to get the same welcome. Attitudes toward migrants have hardened in Europe following the 2015 crisis, fueling the rise of far-right, anti-migrant parties like Alternative for Germany, the biggest opposition party in parliament ahead of the federal election next month. Even in Turkey, migrants from Syria and Afghanistan — once treated like Muslim brethren — are increasingly viewed with suspicion as the country grapples with economic problems, including rising inflation and unemployment. Greece — whose scenic islands facing the Turkish coast were the European point of entry for hundreds of thousands of Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans and others six years ago — has made clear it doesn't want to relive that crisis. — Agencies
