He said he will raise the issue next week during his meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al Kadhimi as the majority of illegal migrants coming to Lithuania are from Iraq.
"I will support attempts by the Lithuanian government to make the return policy possible," Michel told journalists in Medininkai, Vilnius District. "We will also be in contact with other countries of origin to see how cooperation with these countries could be improved by sending a signal that it’s impossible to get there using illegal tools and instruments."
Cooperation with the countries of origin would allow identifying incoming migrants without documents and step up the adoption of asylum decisions, Michel said. These decisions have to be made "with the rights of different incoming people in mind", he said.
The European Council president was accompanied by Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte during his visit to the Belarusian border. She later expressed hope for the EU's assistance in speaking with migrants' countries of origin and transit counties as the EU's negotiating position in such cases is stronger.
Later this month, a Lithuanian delegation will travel to Iraq and Turkey to look for ways to resolve this crisis.
"We will go both ways, all ways possible, but I would, nevertheless, expect a European solution and a European discussion since there are just objectively more arguments that can be provided to the other side," Simonyte said.
Over 1,300 illegal migrants have already entered Lithuania so far this year, which is over a dozen times more than through the whole year of 2020. Lithuanian officials say the recent influx of migrants is the Belarusian regime's hybrid attack in revenge for Lithuania.
Michel confirmed his suspicions about Belarus' role in migration schemes.
"We are not naïve in Europe, and we are not frightened," he said.
Frontex officers are set to come to Lithuania later this month, but Simonyte says more of the EU's assistance is needed.
"We will try to do everything for Lithuanian government institutions to receive specific support to be able to deal with these difficulties and find specific solutions," Michel said.
On Tuesday, the European Council president, the Lithuanian prime minister and the country's Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis inspected the Lithuanian-Belarusian border and saw how border surveillance systems work, as well as met with Frontex officers working there.
Later on, Simonyte, Michel and Landsbergis inspected the territory during a helicopter flight.