Legal provisions for changing the current migration rules will be formulated by the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry
Vilnius considers it necessary to seek in Brussels to revise the migration policy of the European Union, which, according to Lithuania, is too liberal. Such an initiative was put forward on Wednesday by the parliamentary committees on national security and defense and on foreign policy, the chairman of the former, Laurynas Kasciunas, told reporters.
“By joint decision, the committees decided to propose to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to formulate legal provisions on revising the current rules in the area of migration, which are somewhat outdated and should be more flexible”, – he said.
According to the politician, it is necessary to tighten the rules for illegal migrants to appeal against a negative asylum decision.
“By doing so, they, by complaining, complaining and complaining, drag out the process by manipulating this right”, – Kasčiūnas said. Another suggestion is to ban such persons [pending a decision on their asylum claim] from moving freely around the country. – “There should be a growing understanding in Europe that restricting the right to free movement should be a normal practice to deter migration”, – the committee chairman said.
Since the beginning of the year, 1,738 illegal immigrants, mostly from Asian countries, have been apprehended at the Lithuanian-Belarusian border, 21.5 times more than in the entire year 2020. In late May, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said his country had been a barrier to the flow of drugs and illegal migrants into the neighboring state, but given the political pressure from the West, Minsk may wonder whether it is worth continuing to do so.