Migrant pushbacks have no place in the EU’s legal system, European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said in Vilnius on Friday.
"Pushbacks are clearly illegal. People have the right to apply for asylum," she said ahead of a conference on border management underway in the Lithuanian capital.
According to Johansson, the European Commission has drawn up legislative proposals to define "what derogations are possible [...] and what kind of derogations are not possible" for countries facing instrumentalised migration.
Since August, Lithuanian border guards have been pushing back irregular migrants attempting to enter the country from Belarus.
Read more: MEPs and UNHCR decry Lithuania's migrant pushbacks, restrictions on aid workers
Vilnius says it has adopted the policy due to the Minsk regime using migrants as a tool to pressure the country, as well as the EU. Officials say people can apply for asylum at the embassy in Minsk, as well as at official border crossing points.
However, critics and refugees say Belarusian officers prevent them from reaching the border crossings, or they have no identity documents that are needed to reach the border or turn to the embassy.
Johansson also said that the EU's position not to fund border fences remains unchanged.
"If member states like to build fences, they can do so, but it is a long-standing position of the Commission not to finance walls or barbed wire fences," she said.
Johansson added that the border crisis has been deescalated.
"Lukashenko has failed. In my view, this is the way to continue," she added.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
