Foreign affairs
refugees
Foreign affairs
Lithuania contributes EUR 150,000 to refugee fund
Lithuania has transferred EUR 150,000 to the Migrant and Refugee Fund (MRF). […]
Politics
President Grybauskaitė: benefits for refugees should not be increased
Refugees should not get bigger benefits than people who have worked in Lithuania for 30 or 40 years, President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė told LRT Radijas radio. According to the president, Lithuania has already designated considerable benefits compared to other countries. […]
European Union
Society
First refugee family to come to Lithuania next week
The list of potential asylum seekers to be resettled in Lithuania was longer, but after security tests officials decided to relocate only one family. At the moment, there is no new information about other refugees who could soon arrive in Lithuania, Deputy Interior Elvinas Jankevičius told reporters on Tuesday. […]
Politics
Lithuania continues to oppose permanent EU refugee resettlement mechanism
A meeting between President Dalia Grybauskaitė and the Parliamentary Committees on Foreign and European Affairs discussed the EU’s refugee relocation scheme. According to the European Affairs Committee chair Gediminas Kirkilas, Lithuania’s position is to oppose proposals of introducing a permanent mechanism for refugee resettlement. […]
Politics
European Union
Turkey’s contribution is essential to overcome migration crisis, Lithuanian president says
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė attended the EU-Turkey summit in Brussels where Turkey was represented by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. The summit was held to discuss the flow of Syrian refugees crossing Turkey, the press service of the president said. […]
Politics
Lithuanian parliament passes law on refugee resettlement
The Lithuanian parliament passed legislation on Thursday that clears up regulations of refugee resettlement in the country. […]
Opinion
Opinion: Refugee crisis reveals Europe has no balls
Even as this piece is being written, it is possible that a Europolitician in Brussels would turn up his salary-soaked nose at the headline. However, it is now time to face the stark truth. The refugee crisis has confirmed again that the European Union is so weak that it can be terrorised and blackmailed by national dictators, human traffickers and other suspicious individuals. […]
Politics
Lithuania’s Labour Party calls for refugee quota revision
Labour Party‘s Chairman Valentinas Mazuronis has asked the parties in Lithuania’s governing coalition to revise the country’s refugee quota. […]
European Union
Baltic presidents: No additional refugee commitments without external border protection
The presidents of Lithuania and Latvia say the two countries will not agree to accepting more refugee quotas unless the European Union takes simultaneous measures to secure the EU’s external borders. […]
Society
Politics
Lithuanian president’s adviser: People running from war are not terrorists
Chief advisor to the Lithuanian president on national security Valdemaras Sarapinas says that people running from war should not be called terrorists and Lithuania will stay committed to the European Union‘s (EU) refugee relocation plan. […]
European Union
Border controls introduced by some EU countries ‘unavoidable’, Grybauskaitė says
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė says that the recent introduction of temporary border checks in Sweden is the outcome of failing to control the European Union‘s external borders. […]
European Union
Lithuanian president: Migration crisis is only getting worse
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė says that, despite all measures taken by the European Union (EU) and its member-states to manage the migrant and refugee flows, the migration crisis in Europe is only worsening. […]
European Union
EU Commissioner Andriukaitis: Selection among refugees for resettlement is immoral
EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis has slammed discussions in Lithuania about selection criteria for refugee resettlement. According to Andriukaitis, who was Lithuania’s healthcare minister before taking the job with the EU Commission, said that selections among people in the face of the current humanitarian crisis would be immoral and go against everything Europe holds as principles. […]
European Union
Lithuanian conservative leader expresses solidarity with Merkel on refugee crisis
The congress of the European People‘s Party in Madrid has turned into a meeting of conservative leaders to discuss the refugee crisis, a divisive issue for European conservatives. Gabrielius Landsbergis, the leader of the Lithuanian Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats, says that his party supports Angela Merkel‘s idea of solidarity, but also questions the sustainability of proposed solutions. […]
Foreign affairs
Society