EU Proposes More Flexible Asylum Procedures for Belarus Crisis
Barbed wire fence at the Lithuanian-Belarusian border in Sadziunai, Lithuania.
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The European Union’s executive arm proposed exceptional flexibility to its eastern members struggling with artificial migration from Belarus, proposing that Latvia, Lithuania and Poland be allowed to take up to 16 weeks to process asylum requests.
Margaritis Schinas, vice president of the European Commission, told reporters on Wednesday the suggested temporary measures would provide the three EU member states with the means to respond to extraordinary circumstances, as requested by the bloc’s leaders in October.