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The Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Vytautas Leškevičius, who represented Lithuania at the informal meeting of the EU’s General Affairs Council on 29-30 May in Athens, underlined that there was a need to balance the relationship between institutions as set out in the EU agreements and that the Council of the European Union had to remain an essential participant in the legislative process.

“We must strengthen the role of the EU’s General Affairs Council, particularly when preparing for the European Council meetings, drafting the conclusions of the meetings and ensuring the implementation of decisions taken by EU heads of state or government,” the Lithuanian Foreign Vice-Minister said.

V.Leškevičius drew attention to the exclusive role of the EU’s General Affairs Council in relation to the European Parliament and the European Commission, chiefly in agreeing on common priorities and supervising the implementation of the decisions.

When speaking about the priorities, V.Leškevičius underlined that the key EU issues should include energy security, deepening of the internal market, economic growth, measures to reduce unemployment, strengthening of the Monetary Union and the European Neighbourhood Policy, namely the Eastern Partnership policy.

The General Affairs Council meeting was held to discuss cooperation between EU institutions: the Council, the Parliament and the Commission. The meeting examined prospects of concluding an inter-institutional agreement between the three EU institutions and the General Affairs Council’s role in formulating the EU’s long-term political agenda.

The issue related to the inter-institutional agreement was also addressed at the informal meeting of the EU’s General Affairs Council on 28–29 August in Vilnius during Lithuania’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union.