News

On 26 April in Luxembourg, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis attended the EU General Affairs Council meeting, during which the Council agreed on the establishment of the European External Action Service. The Council exchanged opinions on ways to make the European citizens’ initiative operational and discussed results of the European Council.

At the EU General Affairs Council, Ministers reached a political orientation regarding a draft decision on the establishment of the European External Action Service. According to the Minister, it is an important step forward, which has to be followed by the preparation, adoption and effective implementation of appropriate legislation.

“Today we laid a good foundation for the creation of a strong service, which will help us ensure consistency in EU foreign policy,” Minister A.Ažubalis said.

The Minister expressed satisfaction that almost all suggestions made by Lithuania were included into the Council’s draft decision on the establishment of the European External Action Service.  In the opinion of Minister A.Ažubalis, the political orientation is important, because it will allow EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton to open negotiations with the European Parliament, which is also involved in the process of the establishment of the European External Action Service. 

It is planned that in the future one third of the staff of the Service will be recruited from the diplomatic services of the member states. Head of Lithuania’s diplomacy says that this will help the EU institutions to gain better knowledge and understanding of foreign policy priorities and expectations of the EU member states, as well as this will provide an excellent opportunity for Lithuanian diplomats to accumulate invaluable experience.

The Council also discussed the follow-up to the Spring European Council (25-26 March) and the preparation for the next summit on 17 June, during which the European Council intends to adopt the EU 2020 Strategy.

This Strategy for economic growth and employment aims to help the EU recover from the economic crisis and boost knowledge-based economy, which would harness resources effectively.

At the EU General Affairs Council meeting, the EU foreign ministers also outlined political guidelines for a regulation regarding the European citizens’ initiative, which is introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon. The Council expects that until June 2010 it will reach an agreement regarding the implementation of this new democratic tool in practice.

The European citizens’ initiative is one of the most visible innovations of the Treaty of Lisbon. It introduces a new dimension of participatory democracy in the EU. The initiative will enable citizens to invite the European Commission to bring forward legislative proposals on a specific issue if the number of signatories to the initiative reach at least one million and if they come from a significant number of the EU member states.

According to the Minister, this innovation of the Treaty of Lisbon will provide ample opportunities for European citizens to actively participate in the EU decision-making and will encourage them to take greater interest in the EU issues and to aim at having the decisions that are important for the citizens made.