October 17, Pozirk. Lithuania is facing a major challenge in hybrid attacks from Belarus and the instrumentalization of illegal migration, said Gitanas Nausėda, the Lithuanian president.
The situation at the Belarusian border is relatively stable but may change overnight, he said before the European Union (EU) summit in Brussels.
Because of that challenge, Vilnius is asking the European Commission to change the legal framework and give it tools to be able to resist, he said.
Nausėda also suggested closer cooperation with the countries of origin and transit of migrants.
Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa said that migration is becoming an increasingly pressing issue for Europe in light of hybrid attacks. Europe needs very strong solutions, she stressed.
The EU summit is taking place on October 17–18 with migration high on the agenda. European leaders will discuss, among other things, strengthening control over the EU’s frontier and combating human trafficking and smuggling.
Latvia, Lithuania and Poland have stopped at least 1,253 attempts by migrants from Asia and Africa to cross the border from Belarus in October and 33,174 attempts since the beginning of the year.
The migration crisis at the Belarusian-European border has been dragging on since the spring of 2021.
