News

On 15 November in Brussels, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Raimondas Karoblis attended the EU’s General Affairs Council, which discussed issues related to the mid-term review of the EU’s multi-annual financial framework, preparations for the European Council on 15 and 16 December, and the Commission’s work programme for 2017.

Lithuania’s Foreign Vice-Minister emphasized the need for a timely and full implementation of decisions of the European Council. Karoblis reminded that some of the tasks that were set by the October European Council were directly related to visa-free travel for Ukraine and Georgia, thus they must be implemented as soon as possible, so that the EU could fulfil its obligations to these countries. Karoblis also called on the Ministers to continue to work, aiming to ensure a more effective control of the EU’s external borders and to reach an agreement on new initiatives to address the root causes of migration.

During the meeting, the Ministers reached a broad consensus on the Council’s position on the mid-term review of the EU’s multi-annual financial framework. According to Lithuania’s Foreign Vice-Minister, the Council’s decision would be particularly important in preparations for the negotiations with the European Parliament on the 2017 EU budget on 16 November.

Prior to the Council, a meeting of heads of the Nordic and Baltic delegations was organized on the initiative of Estonia. In the meeting, the officials exchanged their opinions on important items on the EU agenda.

For more information about the meeting, please click here.