Lithuania will soon have to make a choice – accept at least 158 migrants or pay a so-called solidarity co-payment, which will exceed three million euros, in accordance with the European Union’s new Migration Pact.
The government plans to make a decision this year, before the pact comes into force. Opposition MPs have indicated that the decision should be made as soon as possible in order to either prepare for the integration of migrants or include the payment in budget expenditures.
Four years ago, the asylum seeker reception center was overcrowded. Currently, it is home to about 200 refugees, mostly Ukrainians. In total, about 450 people are accommodated in Lithuanian refugee centers, but space allows for the same number.
Gediminas Pocius, head of the Reception and Integration Agency, said that migrants traveling through Lithuania to other EU countries usually spend about a month in the centers. Ukrainians tend to stay longer.
Compared to 2021, when there was a pronounced migration crisis on the Belarusian border, this is no longer a big problem for Lithuanian border guards. In turn, efforts to reach Europe via the Mediterranean have intensified again. Last year, the EU decided to disperse migrants across the bloc’s countries using a quota system. Lithuania should accept 158 people from southern Europe. Pocius pointed out that accommodating and integrating such a number should not cause major problems.
However,
the country can also choose to pay more than three million euros and not accept asylum seekers.
Laurynas Šedvydis, chairman of the Parliament’s Human Rights Committee, said that Lithuania can choose one of the options, but can also combine the approach – accept some of the asylum seekers and pay some of the fines.
Former Lithuanian Interior Minister Agne Bilotaitė, who is now an opposition MP and once pushed for changes to the legislation that allowed migrants to be turned away from the border, has called for a decision not to be delayed. Bilotaitė added that, given the potential risk, she is more inclined to make a payment.
Pocius pointed out that the biggest challenge for migrants is language, and
Lithuania does not have an adequate language training system.
Acting Interior Minister Vladislav Kondratovič informed that a special Migration Committee will make the decision, and the cultural proximity of migrants to Lithuania will be taken into account. Bilotaitė objected to this, saying that the quota system does not allow for a choice.
Eurostat data shows that 200,000 people applied for asylum in the EU in the first three months of 2025 alone.
Read the full article in English here: https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/2642267/lithuania-weighs-accepting-158-refugees-or-paying-eu-fine
Read also: VIDEO | In France, lighting a cigarette in an inappropriate place costs residence permit