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Presidency of the EU Council is an opportunity for Lithuania to contribute to the future of Europe as well as a chance to increase its visibility and demonstrate that it can lead the legislative process as efficiently as other member states, Permanent Representative of Lithuania ambassador Raimundas Karoblis said at an event organized by Belgian, German and Lithuanian think-tanks on June 18 in Brussels.

“The legislative workload will be the highest among the presidencies. We are ready to work on all initiatives but will have to prioritize clearly. We will be focusing on areas of political priority of the European Council and those where we could expect concrete deliverables,” ambassador Karoblis said.

The Permanent Representative stated that as the European Parliament election approaches, cooperation of all EU institutions is essential to achieve results.

“As Presidency, we are ready to share the fruits of our success with all institutions. But we equally wish that all institutions would share the responsibility,” the ambassador said.

Member of the European Parliament Markus Ferber said in his introduction that during its Presidency, Lithuania will be able to lead by example as a country that has ensured one of the fastest growth rates in the EU and recently succeeded in reducing youth unemployment.

”As long as we do not see economic growth we cannot say that the crisis is over. The EU has put many efforts in ensuring the financial discipline and adopting rules on public finances. Now we have to make sure that these rules are implemented, and Lithuania will focus on that during its Presidency,” ambassador Karoblis stated.

The Permanent Representative said that the EU multiannual budget for 2014–2020 is one of the main presidency priorities and expressed hope that the Irish Presidency will reach a political agreement with the European Parliament, opening doors for Lithuania to focus on adopting more than 70 pieces of legislation essential for the money to flow to the EU-financed initiatives from the start of the next year.

Ambassador Karoblis underlined that Lithuania supports the accession by Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area and will seek success based on the European Commission recommendations and the work of the previous presidencies but acknowledged that political atmosphere may affect the results.

The panellists also included member of the European Parliament Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė and adviser to the President of the European Parliament Arnoldas Pranckevičius. The event “EU Agenda under the Lithuanian Presidency”, organized by Hanns Seidel Stiftung, Centre for European Studies and The Institute of Democratic Politics, is part of a series of introductions into the agenda of the EU presidencies.