Lithuania considers closing border for asylum seekers

April 8, Pozirk. Lithuania prepares an extensive “migration package” and considers closing its border to asylum seekers, LRT reported citing the Baltic state’s interior minister, Vladislav Kondratovič.

Vilnius may take measures to tighten border security similar to those adopted by Finland and Poland, he announced.

Officials study the way the two countries address migrants’ attacks on border guards and may restrict accepting asylum requests, the minister said yesterday.

He argued that new solutions are necessary since measures that were adequate a few years ago may not work today.

The government should be able to react properly and implement best practices tested in other countries, he said. It should prepare an adequate legal framework for future threats, he added.

Earlier, the Polish government suspended migrants’ right to apply for asylum at the border with Belarus for 60 days, starting March 27.

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