Lithuania to select which migrants to relocate under EU solidarity scheme

Lithuania will have the right to choose which migrants it accepts under the EU’s solidarity mechanism, the country’s interior vice-minister said on Friday, as reported by LRT.

Vice-Minister of the Interior Alicija Ščerbaitė told national broadcaster LRT Radio that Lithuania is now at a stage where it can select which foreigners will arrive in the country. “We believe it would be best if families came,” she said, adding that this approach would allow Lithuania to meet its quota by relocating fewer but larger groups—such as five families of ten, totaling 50 people.

Ščerbaitė emphasized that selected migrants must meet national security criteria. She also noted that the European Commission will cover integration costs, estimating an average of €12,000 per migrant for their resettlement in Lithuania.

Under the EU’s solidarity mechanism, Lithuania has committed to relocating 58 migrants currently in Cyprus while paying a €1.4 million fee to opt out of accepting an equal number. The government decided last December that Lithuania would take in half of its assigned migrant quota under the 2024 Migration and Asylum Pact, approved by the EU Council in May, and pay to decline the other half.

Interior Minister Vladislavas Kondratovičius has stated that this approach will be reviewed annually. The first migrants are expected to arrive in Lithuania next year.

The EU solidarity mechanism requires member states to share responsibility for migrants arriving in frontline countries. As of May, Lithuania has over 218,000 registered foreign nationals with valid residence permits.