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At the meeting of EU Ministers for European Affairs in Luxembourg on 26 June, Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Vytautas Leškevičius said that adherence to fiscal discipline was necessary; however, at the same time the EU had to invest more into the economic spheres which would contribute the most to economic growth.

“We all agree that the next EU multiannual budget should foster growth, create jobs, increase competitiveness and reduce economic disparities. It would be very difficult for Lithuania to reach these goals, if current proposals for cohesion policy were adopted. The EU’s support to agriculture and rural development has to be appropriately financed to help catch up with the more developed EU member states as quickly as possible,” Leškevičius said.

At the General Affairs Council meeting, ministers discussed the updated proposal of the Danish EU Presidency on the EU’s multiannual financial framework for the 2014-2020 period. Leškevičius welcomed the efforts of Denmark to take into account some of the most important proposals that were submitted by Lithuania. However, he stressed that there was still a long way to go before satisfactory solutions were found.

Leškevičius also underlined that the principles of justice and equality had to be respected also when allocating direct payments for agriculture.

“It is difficult to understand why the current proposal provides for only one-third of the necessary funding for the reduction of disparities. A single market will not work unless all the players are treated equally,” the Vice-Minister said.

He also pointed out that the EU was committed to ensure appropriate financing of the decommissioning of the Ignalina nuclear power plant.

Leškevičius stressed that it was important to re-affirm the commitment to complete the negotiations on the multiannual budget already this year.

The Lithuanian Vice-Minister emphasized that when preparing for the European Council meeting, it was necessary to re-invite the EU’s neighbouring countries to cooperate on nuclear security issues and reminded the ministers that not all of the nuclear power plants had been tested in the EU neighbourhood.

The Council decided to open accession negotiations with Montenegro. Leškevičius welcomed this decision and noted that another Balkan State, namely the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, was also ready to open negotiations.