Majority of Lithuanians against relocation of refugees: survey

- Nearly 70 percent of Lithuanians disapprove the European Union's migrants' relocation policy and more than half of the respondents believed that most of newcomers to Lithuania are economic migrants rather than real asylum seekers, a new survey published on Tuesday has found.

A survey conducted by the International Organization for Migration Vilnius office and local pollster Spinter Tyrimai showed that 22 percent of the respondents believed that Lithuania is not capable to integrate refugees, while 46 percent indicated that the Baltic country can't afford to accept the newcomers.

Fifty--four percent of those polled said they believed that refugees might pose a serious threat to Lithuania. Only 13 percent said they did not see any risks due to the issue.

Nearly 39 percent of respondents said they feard that the number of criminal incidents such as thefts might increase due to refugees, and 33 percent of polled residents envisioned higher terrorism risk.

Forty--seven percent are in favour of taking in only refugee families or women with children and not single young men.

Meanwhile, 23 percent of respondents said they believed that refugees' relocation to Lithuania benefits the country's economy, the survey showed.

So far, nearly 200 refugees have been settled in Lithuania according to the EU's refugee resettlement scheme. Back in 2015, Lithuania agreed to take in 1105 asylum seekers from the Middle East under the plan proposed by the EU. Enditem