IMPORTANT CHALLENGE AWAITS LITHUANIA AS IT CELEBRATES 7TH ANNIVERSARY OF EU MEMBERSHIP, LITHUANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS
Important challenge awaits Lithuania as the country celebrates its seventh anniversary of membership in the European Union – the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2013 - which will show the maturity of the state, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Audronius Ažubalis says.According to the Minister, the task of the EU’s Presidency will be to ensure smooth working of the Council of the EU and to set priorities for its activities.
Over the half-year long Presidency, Lithuanian ministers will have to chair meetings in nine different Council configurations, the country’s experts will chair 260 preparatory working groups of the Council, more than three thousand meetings of different levels will be organized.“Such responsibility can be entrusted only to a mature member of the community. We are already demonstrating this maturity in everyday work - our suggestions and ideas are integrated into the decisions of the EU’s Councils,” the Minister stressed in his welcome speech on the occasion of the Europe Day on 2 May at a private gymnasium in Vilnius.
According to Minister A.Ažubalis, Lithuania was among the first ones in the EU to start speaking about energy security and the need for the EU’s joint effort to ensure it. Another important initiative of Lithuania is to ensure that the European history would remain undivided, also the awareness of crimes committed by totalitarian regimes and their assessment at the European level.
According to the Minister, the Lithuanian society is also invited to join the process of taking over the Presidency of the EU and to help making use of the opportunities that are opening up thanks to the Presidency to strengthen Lithuania’s European identity and to increase the country’s visibility abroad.
“We already invite you to volunteer, to make a contribution with your ideas and opinions,” Minister A.Ažubalis said.
Lithuania announced its goal to join the EU in 1995, the accession negotiations were opened in 1997. Lithuanian citizens supported the EU membership during the referendum in 2003.
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