By Reda Gilytė, LRT TV, LRT.lt.
Lithuania must decide this year whether to accept 158 migrants annually under the European Union’s newly approved Migration and Asylum Pact or pay about 20,000 euros for each person it chooses not to take. Countries that accept and integrate migrants would receive 10,000 euros per individual.
Interior Minister officials say Lithuania is considering a mixed approach – taking in some migrants while paying for others. But lawmakers remain split.
Dainoras Bradauskas of the Nemunas Dawn faction said Lithuania should decline all arrivals. “It’s better to pay the fee. I don’t think we need them here,” he said, arguing that Lithuania’s cities are safe and that the country should protect its families and “cleanliness”.
Opposition Democrats “For Lithuania” leader Saulius Skvernelis said Lithuania should invite only those who meet national needs and pose no threat. “We should have a consistent migration policy and talk about people we truly want to integrate – highly skilled individuals with a similar cultural background,” he said.
Social Democratic Party chairman Mindaugas Sinkevičius countered that Lithuania, bordering Russia and Belarus, often asks the EU for solidarity and should therefore show the same openness when southern states face migration pressures. “Solidarity cannot be one-way,” he said.
Read more: LRT.LT
