Lithuania's intermin asks president to initiate changes to EU's migration legislation

VILNIUS – Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite has asked the country's President Gitanas Nauseda to raise the issue of the need to amend the EU's existing migration-related legislation at the upcoming European Council. 

EU legislation in the areas of border protection, migration and asylum should create conditions for Lithuania and other EU member states to effectively respond to the inflow of illegal migrants amid hybrid warfare, the Interior Ministry said in a statement released on Monday.

"The regime in neighboring Belarus is employing migrants, using them as a weapon to achieve its political goals. It's an organized activity aimed at undermining, therefore, the European Union's responds needs to be decisive, and the European Union's legislation should reflect the new reality and clearly regulate what action can and should be taken by EU members states to prevent abuse by third countries," Bilotaite was quoted as saying in the statement.

"The issue has to be raised at the top-level, therefore, I am asking the president to raise it at the European Council to protect interests of our state and those of the whole of the European Unions," she said.

Over 4,100 migrants – mostly Iraqi citizens – have crossed into Lithuania from Belarus illegally so far this year. Lithuania has a state-level extreme situation declared over the irregular migration influx which it says is being orchestrated by the Belarusian regime.