Lithuania Expects More Initiative From EU On Border Migrant Crisis - Presidential Aide

Lithuania Expects More Initiative From EU on Border Migrant Crisis - Presidential Aide

The European Commission's proposed measures to simplify procedure and extend the processing period of asylum applications are insufficient, Chief Adviser to the Lithuanian President Asta Skaisgiryte said on Thursday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd December, 2021) The European Commission's proposed measures to simplify procedure and extend the processing period of asylum applications are insufficient, Chief Adviser to the Lithuanian President Asta Skaisgiryte said on Thursday.

Earlier this week, the European Commission suggested emergency measures for Poland, Lithuania and Latvia aimed at addressing the situation at their borders with Belarus, in particular extending the registration period for asylum applications from 10 days to four weeks, and up to four months for processing the applications. Measures to ease and hasten the return procedure were also proposed.

"(This proposal) is not bad, but I would say it is insufficient. We would have expected more. Extending the period for processing applications is, for sure, a sort of respite for the services which have been overwhelmed by thousands of applications in a very short time. Yes, this is a step forward, but we would like to see greater involvement on the part of the European institutions in management of this crisis," Skaisgiryte told the Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT).

She stressed that Lithuania has already offered the European Commission a series of steps aimed at stabilizing the situation at the border with Belarus, including strengthening EU external border controls, revising asylum and migration policies, and discussing the repatriation of migrants who have already entered the EU.

According to Skaisgiryte, this package of measures is under consideration.

In recent weeks, the migration crisis at the EU border with Belarus has aggravated as Poland, Lithuania and Latvia try to suppress the attempts of illegal migrants to cross their borders. The EU accused Belarus of manufacturing the crisis to leverage its position amid sanctions and worsening relations. Minsk has repeatedly denied these allegations, claiming that Belarus is unable to stem the flow of illegal migrants any longer due to EU sanctions.