Vilnius mayor warns rising immigration requires immediate action

Vilnius Mayor Valdas Benkunskas has called for urgent measures to address the city’s rapidly growing immigrant population, warning that failure to act now could lead to uncontrollable demographic shifts, politika.lt reports.

Speaking to the outlet, Benkunskas acknowledged that while the situation remains manageable, delays in policy intervention risk creating long-term challenges. “If we, as a city, do not take initiative now, we could spend years under the same conditions—only to find the processes have become irreversible,” he said. Citing research, he noted that a 10% foreign-born population marks a critical threshold where state intervention becomes necessary to prevent segregation and the formation of ethnic enclaves.

Vilnius currently hosts around 80,000 non-Lithuanian citizens, of whom 20,000 are EU nationals. Nearly 50,000—predominantly Russian speakers from post-Soviet states—have arrived since 2021, tripling their previous numbers. “The perception that Russian is now more visible in Vilnius than Lithuanian is natural given these figures,” Benkunskas stated.

A recent municipal survey revealed broad dissatisfaction with current immigration policies, with residents rating existing regulations an average of 3.6 out of 10 while expressing a preference for stricter controls (a desired score of 8). Respondents emphasized language integration as a key concern, stressing that even basic Lithuanian proficiency among newcomers would improve social cohesion.

Benkunskas highlighted two systemic gaps: the absence of mandatory Lithuanian language requirements for temporary residents and the ease of renewing short-term permits without long-term integration obligations. “Under current rules, someone can live here for 20 years on consecutive temporary permits without ever learning the language or fulfilling civic duties,” he explained. He contrasted this with other countries, where immigrants must adapt to local languages to access services—a pressure lacking in Lithuania, where Russian remains widely accommodated in both public and private sectors.

“I’m not sounding an alarm, but inaction over the next few years could drastically alter our society,” the mayor warned. “The time to act is now.”