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Lithuania Incapable of Fulfilling EU Mandatory Refugee Quota - Interior Minister

© AP Photo / Mindaugas KulbisA girl runs along the banks of the Neris river as temperatures rise up to 25 Celsius (77 Fahrenheit) in Vilnius. Lithuania.
A girl runs along the banks of the Neris river as temperatures rise up to 25 Celsius (77 Fahrenheit) in Vilnius. Lithuania. - Sputnik International
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Lithuania is capable of accepting up to 50 refugees a month, at such pace, the country will not manage to fulfill the EU mandatory quota scheme, Lithuanian Interior Minister Tomas Zilinskas said Tuesday.

A man cuts another man's hair outside a passenger terminal used as a shelter for refugees and migrants at the Piraeus harbour in Athens on April 3, 2016 - Sputnik International
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VILNIUS (Sputnik) — Last week, the European Commission issued a monthly report, comprising criticism of the Baltic states, namely Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, for rejecting relocation requests "without providing substantiated reasons."

"At this pace, the obligations to EU will not be fulfilled," Zilinskas told reporters at the parliament.

The interior minister added that there would be no sanctions in relations to the quota scheme.

"Lithuania is not the only country, which does not implement the obligations in full. Other countries face same problems as Lithuania does," he added, stressing Vilnius was not planning on accelerating the process of accepting refugees for security reasons.

In 2015, Lithuania pledged to take in 1,105 refugees over two years under the EU mandatory quota scheme aimed at relocating 160,000 arrivals among EU member states. Lithuania so far accepted 83 refugees.

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