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This was agreed by the Lithuanian Interior Minister, Agnė Bilotaitė, and the Secretary of State of the Polish Ministry of Interior and Administration, Bartosz Grodeckis, who met in Vilnius on Thursday.
“Both parties unanimously agreed that the construction of the fence should also seek funding from the European Union, as well as faster decisions on changes to EU legislation in the field of border protection and migration,” the Interior Ministry said. (MoI) in a statement issued after the meeting.
Following the sharp increase in the flow of illegal migration from Belarus to Lithuania and Poland, both countries decided to install a physical barrier at the border.
EU officials have repeatedly claimed that the European Commission only finances certain security measures, such as the installation of a surveillance system, but that “the financing of the physical barrier is not yet foreseen in the documents of the EU institutions” .
During the meeting in Vilnius, it was also agreed to continue cooperation and present the common position of Lithuania and Poland on human rights and illegal migration in different EU formats.
“Illegal migration is not acceptable in the European Union, especially when it comes to chaotic and illegal border crossings from neighboring countries that are not covered by war or other threats and enter them as a safe country. We will strive to achieve changes in EU legislation, because countries must have the means to defend their national interests, ”said A. Bilotaitė.
“Lithuania has prepared a package of proposals and together with Poland, Estonia and Latvia we are fighting for change and we are already mobilizing a broader alliance of EU countries.” Together with Poland, we will also seek to draw the attention of the international community to the root cause of this situation: the actions of the Belarusian regime and the human rights situation in Belarus itself, “he said.
According to B. Grodeckis, Lithuania and Poland are committed not only to their citizens to protect state borders, but also to the entire EU, as these are also the external borders of the community.
“Belarus is not a natural migration route, it is an organized human trafficking scheme.” We are seeing the disinformation attack and migrants are also being tricked into reaching the EU easily, “he said.
A.Bilotaitė reported that 32 kilometers of the concert hall have been built on the border between Lithuania and Belarus, the installation of a physical barrier continues, which is scheduled for the end of the year.
A meeting of the Lithuanian-Polish Intergovernmental Commission for Cross-Border Cooperation will be held in Vilnius on Friday.
These are regular meetings of Lithuanian and Polish representatives to discuss issues of cross-border cooperation, protection and rescue of the population in emergency situations, territorial planning and interregional cooperation.
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