European Union
refugees
European Union
Lithuanian foreign minister criticises proposal to pick refugees by nationality
Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius has criticised the idea that the country should pick refugees to accept based on their country of origin. […]
European Union
Accepting 250 refugees matches Lithuania’s capabilities, foreign minister says
Lithuania could take in 250 refugees as a voluntary contribution to the European Union‘s efforts to alleviate the Mediterranean migrant crisis, Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius says. According to him, the number of 250 refugees, which the Lithuanian president recently mentioned, matches the country’s capabilities. […]
European Union
Lithuania can take in 250 refugees, president says
Lithuania could take in up to 250 refugees, President Dalia Grybauskaitė says. […]
Politics
Prime minister says Lithuania could accept only up to 40 refugees
Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius says the number of refugees that could be relocated to Lithuania will become clear after the meeting of the Council of the Interior Ministers next week. The prime minister added that the number could be up to 40. […]
European Union
EU Council to finalize refugee quota for Lithuania next week, interior minister says
The meeting of the European Union‘s (EU) Justice and Home Affairs Council next week should establish the number of refugees Lithuania will have to accept, Interior Minister Saulius Skvernelis says. […]
Opinion
Opinion: EU defends itself by attacking
Recently, I was asked by radio journalist Aurimas Perednis what I thought about the issue of illegal migrants flooding the EU’s southern states. No one in Europe disputes one thing: the current state of affairs is dangerous and cannot be left to run its own course. […]
European Union
EU commissioner: Central Europe happy to accept EU money, but reluctant to help with refugee crisis
Lithuania’s unwillingness to accept refugees that are flooding Southern European countries shows a lack of solidarity with other EU member states, Lithuanian EU Commissioner Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis says. […]
Politics
Lithuanian parliament committee says EC’s refugee quotas would undermine integration capabilities
The Lithuanian Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs has stated that solidarity to distribute refugees among European Union (EU) member states should be understood as a voluntary contribution based on a country’s capabilities. […]
Opinion
Opinion: Lithuania’s hypocritical response to refugee crisis
Lithuania’s foreign policy is not without some ambivalence. Vilnius aspires to be a regional leader and set an example to other small countries, Lithuania demands to be treated as a respected full-fledged member of the European Union, NATO and the international community. Its own actions, however, do not always live up to the standard. […]
European Union
Lithuanian president critical of EU’s refugee relocation proposal
EU member states should be given the right to decide themselves whether to accept refugees from Greece and Italy and how may of them to accept, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė says. […]
European Union
European Commission suggests moving up to 710 refugees to Lithuania
The European Commission on Wednesday suggested relocating up to 710 refugees to Lithuania in a move aimed at resolving the Mediterranean migrant crisis. […]
Society
Lithuania among worst countries for migrants
Lithuania ranks 34th out of 38 countries in terms of conditions for migrants, according to the annual Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX 2015). […]
European Union
Mandatory refugee quotas would run counter to legal practice, Lithuanian foreign minister says
Mandatory refugee quotas for EU member states would run counter to legal practice, therefore, such decisions should be made on a voluntary basis, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius says. […]
European Union
Lithuanian foreign minister says burden-sharing of refugees in EU must be voluntary
At the EU General Affairs Council meeting on 19 May in Brussels, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius discussed progress in implementing measures to tackle migratory flows in the Mediterranean Sea region adopted at a special meeting of the European Council on 23 April 2015. […]
European Union
Lithuanian leadership sceptical about EC’s refugee relocation proposal
Accepting refugees is not the only way to contribute to the resolution of the existing refugee crisis, and the allocated quotas are still an issue “on paper”, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius says. […]
Estonian politician: Question not whether, but how Estonia should receive refugees
Kalle Laanet, the chairman of the Estonian parliament’s Constitutional Committee, says the question for Estonia must not be whether the country should receive refugees, but how it should be done, The Baltic Times reports. […]
European Union
European Commission suggests that Lithuania accept 207 refugees
The European Commission has suggested moving 207 refugees to Lithuania as part of the resolution of the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean Sea, the European Commission Representation in Lithuania says. […]
Society
Lithuania granted asylum to 75 foreigners in 2014
The 27 European Union (EU) Member States for which data are available granted protection status to 185,000 asylum seekers in 2014, up by almost 50 percent compared with 2013. Since 2008, more than 750,000 asylum seekers have been granted protection status in the EU, said Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. […]
Politics
No discussion on admitting refugees from North Africa to Lithuania yet, PM says
Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius says that the Lithuanian government is ready to help the EU’s efforts in solving illegal migration from Africa crisis and contribute to search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean with equipment and human resources. As regards allowing refugees from Africa to resettle in Lithuania, however, it may be discussed at a later time, according to him. […]