Europe needs lasting solutions to counter illegal migration – president Grybauskaitė

The president, who took part in an informal EU summit in the Austrian city of Salzburg on Wednesday, called for “lasting effective solutions to address the root causes of migration“, her press service said.

“It is necessary therefore to work consistently along several lines: to ensure effective control of external borders, to strengthen cooperation with third countries, to promote the development of African countries through EU and other international trust funds, to speed up the procedure of returning illegal migrants, to offer asylum options as near as possible to the zones of conflict,” the press service said in a press release.

“Lithuania proposes to create a single set of EU border standards for introducing unified systems, modern surveillance and control technologies across member states. It would help to eliminate the existing loopholes, which give irregular migrants easy access to the Schengen area in some member states,” it said.

Lithuania also backs the European Commission’s proposal to increase the number of officers at Frontex and has step up its contribution to the European border and coast guard agency over two years, according to the press release.