News

On the evening of May 22, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius had a telephone conversation with the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs of Germany Heiko Mass.

The interlocutors discussed the upcoming Eastern Partnership summit. L. Linkevičius stressed that the Eastern Partnership should remain an ambitious joint initiative and that Germany’s support had always been important. “I hope that Germany will continue to support the Eastern Partnership, which has to remain the EU’s strategic direction also in the future. This is a critical success factor. Thus, it is of great importance to support the motivation and the pro-European direction of our Eastern partners," said Lithuania’s Foreign Minister.

When discussing the U.S. President’s decision to withdraw from the Open Skies Treaty, L. Linkevičius underlined that the agreement had to help build partner trust. It is, therefore, important to preserve NATO unity.

In addition, Lithuania’s Foreign Minister welcomed an initiative by France and Germany for the European recovery from the coronavirus crisis and highlighted the need to ensure that all countries could benefit from this support mechanism.

L. Linkevičius also thanked Germany for its solidarity; firm and consistent support for the deployment of the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battalion in Lithuania.

The Foreign Ministers discussed measures taken by their countries to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and relaxation of controls. Germany’s Lufthansa was the first flight service to resume flights to Lithuania last week. Restrictions for Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian citizens travelling among the Baltic states have also been lifted.

L. Linkevičius wished Germany every success in taking over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union during this difficult period.