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On 20 March in Brussels, Lithuanian Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Vytautas Leškevičius assessed the 2013 European Neighbourhood Policy Package (Communication and Progress reports) that was adopted by the European Commission and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton. The Lithuanian Vice-Minister stressed that by creating a possibility of accession for Eastern Partnership countries, the EU would encourage them to carry out far-reaching reforms more actively.

“We can tell from our own experience that there is no stronger incentive to reform than knowing that this is done to prepare for EU accession. We firmly believe that the EU membership perspective would enable our Eastern partners to achieve significant results, which would be beneficial not only to our partners, but also to us,” Leškevičius said.

According to the Vice-Minister, the reform process is not easy, it requires using best political effort and financial resources, but the European Union is firmly committed to further help its closest neighbouring countries to carry out the necessary reforms.

“The European Union is applying the ‘more for more’ principle for the Neighbourhood Policy, better incentives for the most ambitious reformers are an important aspect of our approach,” Leškevičius said.

The aim to accelerate the political association and deepen the economic integration of the Eastern European partner countries - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine – with the European Union is among key priorities of Lithuania’s Presidency of the EU Council. Lithuania will take the helm of the Council of the EU on 1 July 2013.

Vilnius will host the 3rd Eastern Partnership Summit on November 28 and 29. It is expected that an EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and Free Trade Agreement will be signed during the Summit, if the preconditions of the European Union will be fulfilled. It is also expected that the negotiations on agreements with Georgia, Moldova and Armenia will be completed.

Adopting the ENP annual package, the European Commission announced that in the Eastern Neighbourhood, the EU had stepped up engagement to ensure a successful outcome of the Vilnius Summit.