On Sunday, 1 August, Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, will travel to Lithuania to meet with senior government officials to discuss the situation at the external border with Belarus and any additional European support needed for border and migration management or diplomatic outreach, in line with the principles of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum.
The Commissioner will meet with Gitanas Nausėda, President of Lithuania, Ingrida Šimonytė, Prime Minister of Lithuania, Agnė Bilotaitė, Minister of Interior and Mantas Adomėnas, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, responsible for Eastern Partnership, relations with Asian countries.
On Monday, the Commissioner and the Prime Minister will hold a joint press point at +/-10:30 EET, which will be available on EbS. She will then visit the Padvarionys border crossing point with the Minister of Interior and will meet with Lithuanian, Frontex and European Asylum Support Office staff at the Medininkai Border Guard Service training centre.
Finally, at +/-13:00 EET, the Commissioner and Minister Bilotaitė will hold a press conference which will also be available on EbS. The Commissioner’s visit will be followed on 5-6 August by a visit of Commission officials to make a strategic assessment on the ground.
This year, over 3,000 people, including many children, have crossed irregularly into Lithuania from Belarus. The EU firmly rejects attempts by third countries to incite or acquiesce in irregular migration towards the EU and is fully supporting Lithuania, through operational support from European agencies, financial support, supporting the strengthening of border surveillance capacity and in humanitarian aid through the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism. High Representative/Vice-President Borrell and the Commission are also fully engaged in diplomatic outreach to countries of origin.
For more detail, please see an interview with Commissioner Johansson here.