{"id":206366,"date":"2026-10-06T15:44:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T12:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/206366\/"},"modified":"2026-10-06T15:44:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T12:44:33","slug":"lithuania-to-prioritize-border-security-during-its-eu-presidency","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/pozirk.online\/en\/news\/206366\/","title":{"rendered":"Lithuania to prioritize border security during its EU presidency"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n (strazgraniczna.pl)<\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

October 6, Pozirk<\/em>. <\/strong>Getting border security and protection issues on the main agenda of the European Union\u2019s discussions will be a priority of the Lithuanian presidency of its Council in the first half of 2027, Interior Minister Martynas Katelynas said on October 5 while meeting with his Polish counterpart Marcin Kierwi\u0144ski.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Polish Border Guard, the meeting took place in the village of Budzisko in northeastern Poland, where a major road border crossing between Poland and Lithuania is situated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katelynas said that Warsaw and Vilnius speak with one voice amid the current \u201chybrid crisis\u201d and praised Poland as a \u201cleader in border protection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ministers reportedly discussed issues relating to border security, countering irregular migration, hybrid threats, and coordination at the EU level and agreed that \u201cmigration pressure orchestrated by eastern neighbors has changed its nature and become more aggressive.\u201d In this context, they addressed \u201cspecific issues such as effective readmission and return procedures.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The neighboring European Union countries have reported preventing 14,100 attempts at irregular entry from Belarus since the start of the year, including 11,900 into Latvia, 1,700 into Lithuania and about 500 into Poland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the second half of September, Poland did not record any irregular crossing attempts via Belarus. The halt coincided with public interactions between Minsk and Warsaw at the foreign minister level in New York, where Poland\u2019s top diplomat Rados\u0142aw Sikorski met his Belarusian counterpart Maksim Ry\u017eanko\u016d on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on September 22. The meeting reportedly took place at the request of the Belarusian side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sikorski noted improvements along the shared border after nearly a decade without contacts at the ministerial level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flow of people eager to cross into the EU surged in spring 2021 after Alaksandar \u0141uka\u0161enka, angered by EU sanctions, had indicated that Minsk would not prevent asylum seekers from Africa and Asia from using Belarus as a route to the EU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In June 2021, the Belarusian government suspended a readmission agreement with the EU in response to sanctions that followed the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Latvia, Lithuania and Poland call the migration crisis a \u201chybrid attack\u201d orchestrated by Minsk and Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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