Merkel voices ‘full solidarity’ with Poland over Belarus

By FRANK JORDANS
Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed her “full solidarity” with Warsaw over Poland’s tense border situation with Belarus. Merkel reiterated her accusation that Belarus was carrying out a “hybrid attack” by luring migrants to the country and then sending them to the Polish border in an effort to destabilize both Poland and the European Union as a whole. She spoke before reporters after a meeting in Berlin Thursday with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki. Her comments were seen as a response to Polish criticism that she had failed to coordinate with Warsaw before recently reaching out to Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. After Merkel’s call, Belarus began repatriating some migrants back to Iraq.