Under the EU migration reform, Lithuania would have to take in around 158 migrants a year or pay 3.16 million euros, says Interior Minister Agnė Bilotaitė.
The European Parliament is voting on the new EU Asylum and Migration Pact on Wednesday, a landmark overhaul of its asylum system. While advocates of the reform argue it would make the rules more in line with present realities, migrant rights organisations say it will result in a dysfunctional and cruel system.
The reform, among other things, seeks to introduce more burden sharing among member states in processing asylum requests. If passed, member states would be obliged to take in a certain number of asylum seekers arriving in the outer-rim EU countries or contribute financially.
“Lithuania’s share in such a case would be about 158 people to be resettled, or 3.16 million euros in financial terms” a year, Bilotaitė told a remote press conference on Wednesday.
Solidarity mechanism
Member states could choose whether to accept asylum seekers or pay in to assist other countries, Bilotaitė said.
“A commission would be set up to decide on one or the other alternative,” she explained.
“Lithuania has consistently held that a country cannot be forced to accept anything, either to take in a certain number of people or to contribute financially,” she added.
It is not yet clear which option Lithuania would pick, according to Bilotaitė, and the decision would have to be made by a commission of delegates from different government ministries.
The EU migration package also gives an option for member states to contribute with material means or personnel.
According to Bilotaitė, such assistance could be provided when a country under pressure asks other member states to send experts, interpreters, or other specialists.
While Mediterranean countries process the bulk of asylum seekers entering the EU, Lithuania and other eastern EU member states faced an influx of migrants from Belarus in 2021.
Almost 4,200 migrants entered Lithuania irregularly from Belarus, before the authorities started pushing them back. Most of them have left the country once they were released from detention centres. Vilnius has accused the Belarusian government of bringing the migrants to the border to exert pressure on the EU.
“All this experience shows that we really need a migration system that is durable, efficient, and resistant to abuse,” Bilotaitė said.
She added that irregular migration was still intense at the Polish and Latvian borders.
Further reading
‘Historic achievement’
Lithuanian MEPs Rasa Juknevičienė and Juozas Olekas described the migration reform as a compromise option that is being criticised.
The pact needs to be approved by the European Council and the EP.
Migration has become more politically sensitive in Europe in recent years, with the emergence of nationalist anti-immigration parties in several member states, including Italy, Sweden, and the Netherlands.
Dozens of organisations working with migrants, including Amnesty International, Oxfam, Caritas, and Save the Children, have criticised the reform and said in an open letter that the package will result in a broken and cruel system.
Newsletter
Every Friday morning.
