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“I will meet with the president of Iraq during a video conference next week and, together with Gitan Nauseda, we will certainly prepare several arguments to convince Iraqi representatives to help resolve this situation,” Michel told a press conference in Vilnius on Monday.
Many immigrants coming to Lithuania from Belarus are Iraqi citizens.
When asked if the European Union (EU) could apply an exchange mechanism similar to the one introduced in 2015 after the influx of migrants from southern EU countries in response to Lithuania’s migration crisis, Michelis stated that it was about of “perhaps a more complicated subject”. .
According to him, first of all, “all necessary measures” must be used to prevent illegal migration and encourage people to return to their countries of origin.
The EU agreed six years ago to separate migrants from the Middle East from the Middle East. This time, Lithuania promised to receive 1,105 asylum seekers.
The head of the EVS said that the EU unanimously condemns Belarus’ actions to use migration as a tool of pressure.
“The EU strongly condemns this pressure on immigrants. I would like to express the solidarity of the EU here,” Michel said.
More than 1,200 illegal immigrants have already arrived in Lithuania this year, several times more than last year. Many of them are from Middle Eastern countries.
G. Nausėda rejects the possibility of talking to Belarus about migrants
President Gitan Nauseda on Monday ruled out talks with Belarus on how to reduce illegal migration flows from the country.
G. Nausėda argued that Lithuania should focus on its “task” to strengthen the border with the neighboring country, talk to the migrants’ countries of origin and seek EU support.
“It is very difficult to communicate with a regime whose legitimacy we do not recognize and which, by accident or mistake, allows migrants to cross the border. It is a deliberate tool of politics, a tool of political manipulation, “said G. Nausėda at a joint press conference with the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.
Photo by Julius Kalinskas / 15min / Gitanas Nausėda
According to him, attempts to influence Lithuania through migration will not stop, given the sanctions imposed on Belarus by the EU.
“As a result, the hope is not so much to reestablish relations or debate with the illegitimate regime as to do the necessary homework that we all must do to solve the problem,” said the president.
Mr. Nausėda said he hoped that the EU institutions would provide all necessary assistance to strengthen the border with Belarus and speak to the migrants’ countries of origin.
Meanwhile, the government must undertake “urgent work” to strengthen the Lithuanian-Belarusian border security infrastructure, technical equipment of officials and faster use of EU support for these purposes, the head of state said.
According to him, the government should also seek additional support from the EU border and coast guard agency Frontex and the European Asylum Support Office, and “immediately contact the Turkish and Iraqi governments regarding the readmission of immigrants. illegal “.
According to the president, Lithuania itself has not done its homework for the past decade to make the EU’s external border with Belarus more secure.
“Today we have about 60 percent. Borders with Belarus, which simply do not meet the minimum quality requirements and therefore this problem is only getting worse,” said G. Nausėda.
According to him, it is also necessary to improve the infrastructure so that we can “consider the migrants who have already arrived in Lithuania in civilized conditions.”
“However, the most important thing is to ensure that there are no incentives and motives to develop this obviously illegal business, when you pay a lot of money to enter Lithuania and these people are flowing in droves across the border between Belarus and Lithuania,” said the President.
Sensitive subject
In September last year, Michel’s representatives told Reuters that the issue of receiving asylum seekers was a very sensitive one among the countries of the Community.
Michel himself said at the time that the EU needed to improve migration procedures at the bloc’s external borders, reach more agreements with third countries and harmonize asylum rules throughout the Community.
Following the migration crisis of 2015, when hundreds of thousands of immigrants arrived in Europe mainly through Turkey, the Community reached an agreement to halt arrivals, as well as to reinforce the protection of external borders and strengthen asylum policy.
ZUMAPRESS / Photo by Scanpix / Migrants in the Mediterranean
The number of people trying to reach Europe in the Mediterranean soon dwindled, but human rights defenders criticize the EU for its apparent reluctance to help those in need.
Michel argued last year that member states should conclude agreements with foreign capital. According to them, the EU offers funds to third countries for the reception of migrants and refugees, which then prevent people from traveling to the territory of the Community.
Countries like Turkey and now Morocco and Belarus are trying to use migration as a political lever.
Already in June this year, at the EU summit, the leaders of the Community member states, as Politico pointed out, expressed their conclusions on migration only because they decided not to discuss the most sensitive issues.
Leaders, for example, discussed ways to speed up return procedures for migrants whose asylum claims are rejected. However, no progress has been made on, say, the distribution of immigrants in the EU.
As already mentioned, in the absence of consensus on more sensitive issues, the EU is forced to rely on aid from third countries; Many analysts have already pointed out that countries like Turkey and now Morocco and Belarus are trying to use migration as a political lever.
At least that is the reality indicated by the European Council. The conclusions state that the Council “condemns and rejects attempts by third countries to turn migrants into political instruments”.
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