At the meeting of EU ministers responsible for European Affairs on 11 March in Brussels, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius stressed that in order to achieve financial stability and economic growth, it was necessary to implement agreed measures.

“We must work together and implement earlier decisions, first of all, the Services Directive. We must also remove other obstacles to the proper functioning of the internal market, especially in order to reach an agreement on the Single Market Acts,” Linkevičius said at the ministers’ meeting with the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy.

The General Affairs Council discussed preparations for the European Council to be held on 14 and 15 March, focusing mainly on the economic and social agenda, policies to promote economic growth and job creation.

“In order to achieve economic growth, it is necessary to complete the internal energy market and build the missing links. We are very much looking forward to a fruitful discussion on energy at the European Council, which will be held in May and will define the general political guidelines,” Linkevičius said.

The head of the Lithuanian diplomacy also stressed that the order of steps was important for economic management: fiscal discipline leads to economic growth, and then solidarity can also be created.

The Ministers also discussed preparations for the European Council’s debate on the EU’s relations with strategic partners. Linkevičius said that Russia played an important role in relations with Iran, Afghanistan and Syria; however, EU’s real strategic partnership with Russia would be possible if based on real reforms and obligation fulfilment.