"Asylum seekers cannot dictate their terms to the EU or select a host country," says Grybauskaite

Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite will attend a special European Council meeting to discuss how to stem migrant flows to Europe in cooperation with Turkey. 

The other aim of the meeting is to preserve the functioning of the Schengen area.

According to a press release issued from the Lithuanian President’s office, European leaders will meet with Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, in an effort to speed up the implementation of the EU-Turkey Action Plan. 

Under the plan, Turkey is committed to stemming migrant flows to Europe, as well as ensuring the return of economic migrants and more effectively fighting criminal networks. 

The European Union has allocated 3 billion euros for the implementation of the action plan and for assistance to refugees in Turkey's territory. 

However, more than 120,000 people have already arrived in Europe from Turkey since the beginning of 2016.

In the run-up to the meeting, Grybauskaite said the migration crisis would only become manageable when the flows of migrants are halted at the EU's external borders. 

Until this is done, individual countries have been forced to restore internal border controls; this action has already been done by Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Belgium. 

This creates a threat to the Schengen area which ensures the free movement of persons. Furthermore, there is also a risk of humanitarian crisis posed by refugees stranded in Greece.

Grybauskaite emphasised that an agreement with Turkey is also important for Lithuania. The migration route is constantly changing, and Lithuania is located at the EU's external border. Therefore, the management of migrant arrivals in Turkey is the best way to ensure that chaotic migration flows do not reach Lithuania.

In Brussels, leaders will discuss the European Commission's on preserving the Schengen area. 

The president has pointed out that all EU countries should apply the Schengen rules consistently and should not allow illegal migrants and people without documents to cross borders. 

"Asylum seekers cannot dictate their terms to the EU or select a host country," Grybauskaite concluded.