According to Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis, this decision will take care of the citizens of the Republic of Lithuania and persons with Lithuanian roots and their families. The state will provide aid necessary for their return to Lithuania.
‘Our compatriots living in political, economic and humanitarian crisis-ridden Venezuela will be offered aid to settle in Lithuania. The Government-initiated Law on Resettlement in the Republic of Lithuania of Persons of the Republic of Lithuania, adopted back in June, will provide for a comprehensive aid enabling us to welcome them’, says Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis.
The Ministry of Finance, together with the Ministry of Social Security and Labour, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have been instructed to assess, by 16 September, the need for funds for the resettlement in the Republic of Lithuania of persons from the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and to submit a draft resolution on the allocation of funds from the reserve of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania to cover the 2019 expenses for the resettlement in the Republic of Lithuania. Relevant authorities have been also instructed to include requirements for resettlement funds in the 2020 and 2021 appropriations plans.
Persons to be resettled will be entitled to the reimbursement of their travel expenses, to housing, allowances for settlement, for basic necessities and child education, and to assistance in terms of learning the Lithuanian language, etc. Resettlement applications shall be submitted by October 2020.
The political and economic situation in Venezuela continues to deteriorate. Venezuelans lack food, medicines and daily necessities; 82% of the country’s population has no drinking water, 95% is currently below the poverty line, and what is more, it is threatened by raging criminal gangs. About 5 million people are expected to leave the country by the end of 2019.
