On 6 September at the Informal Meeting of EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs (Gymnich) in Avignon, France, Minister of Foreign Affairs Petras Vaitiekūnas emphasised the necessity to implement energy projects and to heed more of the EU’s attention to its Eastern neighbours.
On 6 September at the Informal Meeting of EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs (Gymnich) in Avignon, France, Minister of Foreign Affairs Petras Vaitiekūnas emphasised the necessity to implement energy projects and to heed more of the EU’s attention to its Eastern neighbours.
Today discussions on the EU-Russia relations, support to Georgia and strengthening of the EU relations with its Eastern neighbours were placed on the agenda of the EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs.
‘On Monday, the European Council made many important decisions, which now we have to implement promptly,’ said Minister P.Vaitiekūnas. Head of Lithuanian diplomacy indicated that currently it was especially important to implement energy projects that are strengthening the energy independence of the EU. The Minister also stressed the importance of the EU’s internal electricity and gas links. In this context, P.Vaitiekūnas reminded of problems regarding the closure of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant.
While speaking about the EU relations with its Eastern neighbours, the Minister highlighted the necessity to make all the necessary decisions to strengthen the EU relations with Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and Belarus.
According to Foreign Minister, it was necessary to take the perspective of Ukraine’s membership seriously, to enhance EU relations with Moldova qualitatively and freshly estimate relations with Belarus. While speaking about Ukraine, the Minister spoke up for providing a perspective of a visa-free regime for this country.
While speaking about Georgia, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs invited to implement the decisions that were made at the European Council to urgently launch a Donor conference and to send a European Security and Defence Policy mission to Georgia as soon as possible. P.Vaitiekūnas offered to organise the Donor conference in Tbilisi and not later than by the middle of October. ‘The European Union has to discuss the offered autonomies for Abkhazia and South Ossetia within Georgia,’ said Minister.
‘Besides, we have to make political decisions regarding a facilitated visa regime and deepening of free trade agreements with Georgia’, indicated P.Vaitiekūnas. According to the Minister, various technical obstacles should not impact the solution of these issues.
Head of Lithuanian diplomacy called the decision to postpone negotiations on strategic partnership with Russia righteous and invited to analyse the EU-Russia relations at length. ‘We cannot speak about the future of the relations until we fully comprehend the nature of there relations today,’ stressed P.Vaitiekūnas.