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On 3 May, the Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius met with the Secretary-General of the European Commission Catherine Day, the Head of Cabinet of the Commission President Johannes Laitenberger, and with other high-ranking members of the delegation of the European Commission to discuss the agenda of Lithuania’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Linkevičius stressed that Lithuania’s EU Presidency would aim to boost the vitality of the EU’s “open door policy” and underlined that the Commission would be among the Presidency’s main partners due to its unique role in the enlargement process.

“We will exert every effort in order to achieve further progress in the EU’s enlargement process and the European Commission will be one of our key partners,” the Foreign Minister told the Commission’s high-ranking officials.

The Foreign Minister also presented the Lithuanian Presidency’s priorities, noting that Lithuania would continue the creation of a credible, growing and open Europe, when the country takes over the helm of the main law‐making body in the EU from Ireland in two months.

When discussing the progress in the negotiations on the EU budget, based on the multiannual financial framework 2014-2020, Linkevičius and Day examined possible steps, which would be needed in the case of protracted negotiations and urgent adoption of legal acts regulating the implementation of the EU budget. According to the Foreign Minister, in the case of such urgency, the European Commission’s role is to grow in importance.

The meeting with the Secretary-General of the European Commission also discussed the forthcoming visit of the European Commissioners to Vilnius on 5 July. The Commissioners will participate in the event marking the launch of the Lithuanian Presidency; the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso will deliver a speech.

The head of the Secretariat-General of the European Commission traditionally visits the incoming Presidency of the EU Council. In Lithuania, Day held meetings with members of the European Commission of the Government, the Minister of Finance Rimantas Šadžius, the Minister of Energy Jaroslavas Neverovičius, and Jovita Neliupšienė, senior foreign policy adviser to the President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė.