Speaking at the meeting, the President pointed out that Lithuania has been subjected to a hybrid attack by the Belarusian regime for two years now, when irregular migrants are used as a tool of political manipulation. According to Gitanas Nausėda, this case has highlighted the need to take decisions that would help to ensure more effective protection of the EU’s external border and provide EU Member States with tools to combat irregular migration and its instrumentalization.
“A few years ago, Lithuania and its neighbors faced an unprecedented challenge—the instrumentalization of irregular migration by the Belarusian regime. With the help of our EU partners, we managed to contain irregular migration flows and better protect the EU’s external border, but the need for common European solutions remains to ensure that our common borders are not jeopardized in the long term,” President Gitanas Nausėda spoke.
According to Gitanas Nausėda, changes in the EU legal framework, increased EU funding for the protection of the EU’s external borders and measures to combat irregular migration, cooperation with migrants’ countries of origin, as well as effective programs for the reintegration of returned migrants in their home countries are necessary.
