After the first working session of the European Council that ran late into the night, Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius welcomed the agreement on an additional EUR 5 billion investment in European energy and infrastructure projects. This decision should help Lithuania, Latvia and Sweden implement a planned power bridge spanning the Baltic Sea. The European Council allocated EUR 175 million for the interconnection project.

“The decision is most welcome as it not only enables us to build an interconnection with Sweden which is important for all Lithuanian energy consumers but also testifies to the feeling of solidarity that the European Union showed again”, the Lithuanian Prime Minister said.

The Prime Minister said he was sure that Lithuania, Latvia and Sweden would find a common solution regarding the location of the power bridge over the Baltic Sea.

“I have heard during the informal talks that the whole of Europe is facing the crisis. It is not only Lithuania which has not a panacea for all the present challenges. The European Union and the global community have had the rough time recently. The future is not without hope as the virtue of solidarity seems to be universally acknowledged during this crisis period”, Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said.

The Lithuanian Prime Minister is going to meet Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis and German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel today.