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At the European Security Strategy Conference on 10 December in Brussels, the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius highlighted the importance of a close interaction between the EU and NATO, and the principle of shared responsibility, and called for a debate on the EU’s new strategy document.

When opening the event, L.Linkevičius stressed the evolution of European security over the last decade, geopolitical change, upheaval and conflict in the European neighbourhood, the impact of the economic and financial crisis on defence budgets in Europe, and new security threats.

The Lithuanian Foreign Minister also underlined that the EU’s need for visibility and solidarity had become evident after the recent events in Ukraine as well as the WTO Ministerial Conference in Bali.

The conference “The ESS@10: Revisiting the European Security Strategy 2003-2013” in Brussels was co-organised by the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the EU Institute for Security Studies, the Egmont – Royal Institute for International Relations, and the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University. The Conference was held a week before the European Council meeting where the EU’s common security and defence policy will be on the agenda.

The Conference marks the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the European Security Strategy by the European Council in December 2003. For the first time, the EU had agreed on a joint threat assessment and had set clear objectives for advancing its security interests.

In the margins of the Conference, the Minister also met with the leadership of the Egmont – Royal Institute for International Relations, hailed the existing cooperation, and discussed the prospects for the Institute’s relations with academic institutions in Lithuania.