News

On 19 February, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Albinas Zananavičius participated in the General Affairs Council in Brussels. Ministers exchanged views on the multiannual financial framework for 2021-2027, an annotated draft agenda of the European Council meeting on 21 and 22 March, and steps to ensure a sustainable Europe by 2030.

As regards the next multiannual financial framework, the Vice-Minister A. Zananavičius stressed that the future EU budget must first and foremost be balanced and fair. It's a question of striking the right balance between the traditional EU policies and new priorities.

“We are ready to work constructively in all aspects of the next long-term budget of the European Union. However, the convergence of direct payments to farmers is one of the key issues for Lithuania and it must be properly reflected in negotiating documents,” said the Vice-Minister A. Zananavičius.

According to A. Zananavičius, special attention should be paid to efforts to deepen the single market and to eliminate the remaining barriers from the single market.

“It is particularly important that new initiatives should not cause additional obstacles to the successful functioning of the single market. Moreover, in the run-up to the forthcoming European Council meeting and the next European Parliament elections, it is essential that we should review the implementation of the Action Plan against Disinformation. It must make a significant contribution to an overall resilience of the EU and help counter hybrid threats – a long-term and difficult challenge facing the EU,” said the Vice-Minister A. Zananavičius.

For more information about the General Affairs Council, please read here.