Lithuania will continue pushing back migrants at its border with Belarus despite the entry into force of the EU's Migration and Asylum Pact, Interior Minister Vladislavas Kondratovičius has said, though the new rules will mean longer processing times for migrants who have entered via Latvia.
The EU Migration and Asylum Pact became applicable across all member states on June 12. NGOs in Lithuania, Latvia and Poland immediately called for a review of pushback practices, arguing that even under exceptional circumstances, member states remain bound by fundamental human rights obligations.
Pushbacks legal during state of emergency
Asked whether Lithuania's pushback policy remained lawful ahead of the parliament adopting the legislative amendments transposing the pact, Kondratovičius said it did, as the country's state of emergency remained in force.
"The main message is that our state-level state of emergency regarding illegal migration is still in effect. Therefore, we will continue our policy of denying entry to illegal migrants as before," the minister told BNS in an interview.
