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On 21 January in Dublin, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius participated in an informal meeting of Ministers, responsible for the EU policy. During the meeting, the Minister and his foreign counterparts discussed upcoming developments in the EU enlargement area and perspectives of the European Neighbourhood Policy.

The Minister met with Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle and had exchange of views with him on the awaiting EU enlargement agenda, including the forthcoming accession of Croatia to the EU on 1 July, maintenance of further progress in negotiations with Iceland, as well as the Eastern Partnership initiative.

In the margins of the informal meeting of EU Ministers, a meeting was held with Serbian Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Suzana Grubješić. The Minister affirmed Lithuania’s consistent support for the continued and merit based process of enlargement of the EU and noted that each country has to confirm its EU membership aspirations by implementing irreversible reforms, which would meet all the accession criteria.  Linkevičius has invited Serbian side for the extensive bilateral dialogue on the EU agenda, with special focus on Serbia’s EU accession process. As a first step, high-ranking Serbian officials have been invited to visit Vilnius for extensive discussions on Serbia’s reached progress towards the EU membership.

“Only an open dialogue on all issues can create an atmosphere of trust, and there is a reserve,” the Minister said.

During the visit to Ireland, the Minister also met with Aleksandar Andrija Pejović, Montenegro’s State Secretary for European Integration, and discussed with him Montenegro’s EU aspirations. Linkevičius voiced his support to European aspirations of Montenegro and promised Lithuania’s assistance in moving forward Montenegro’s EU accession process during the Lithuanian Presidency. However, he drew the State Secretary’s attention to the need to continue reforms, aiming to ensure dynamism in the accession negotiation process.

During the visit, Linkevičius also met with Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament Elmar Brok. They had a conversation about the Eastern Partnership initiative.