News

On 15 September at the European Union’s General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) meeting in Brussels, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Petras Vaitiekūnas and heads of diplomacy of the EU Members States dedicated most of their attention to the issues of Georgia, Belarus and energy security. ‘I would like to welcome the fact that the EU attitude regarding Georgia’s territorial integrity remains clear and unambiguous. The mandate of the EU’s observer mission will cover the whole territory of Georgia, including the regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia,’ head of Lithuanian diplomacy said.

Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs P.Vaitiekūnas was also glad that during the visit of the President of France on 8 September in Moscow an agreement was reached. The Minister expressed trust that Russia would implement all the undertaken obligations.

‘The agreement reached by President Nicolas Sarkozy is an important step forward in the efforts to settle the complicated situation in the region,’ said Minister P.Vaitiekūnas. According to the Minister, this step must be followed by agreements on complete pull out of Russian troops from the territory of Georgia.

Head of Lithuanian diplomacy was also positive about the EU’s determination to immediately implement the decisions of 1 September that were made during the extraordinary meeting of the European Council regarding the donor conference (scheduled for October), facilitation of visas and free trade with Georgia.

The EU’s Foreign Ministers discussed the EU’s response to the latest positive actions of Belarus, when all political prisoners were released, election observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe were invited without any limitation on their mission, and almost all opposition parties willing to participate in the election were registered. Besides, Belarus has not recognised the Georgian break-away regions so far.

‘Decisions that the EU Ministers made today regarding a gradual restoration of relations with Minsk and reviewing the EU’s restrictive measures against this country are particularly important,’ said P.Vaitiekūnas.

The Minister also suggested that a positive signal be sent by the EU from Brussels to Minsk even before the parliamentary elections on 28 September in Belarus.

‘Recognizing the exceptionality of the EU neighbours in the East, we have to seek to speak with our partners in the East about the real process of integration and European goals of individual neighbour countries in the East not in a period of a few years, but already in the nearest future,’ indicated head of Lithuanian diplomacy.

According to Minister P.Vaitiekūnas, the EU has to make strategic decisions regarding the strengthening of relations with Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and Belarus.

Minister P.Vaitiekūnas heeded the attention of his counterparts to the fact that Lithuania’s request was entertained to use occasion of the European Council meeting in October for the start of a discussion on strengthening the EU’s energy policy with respect to the new challenges in the Caucasus and energy security challenges in the Baltic Sea region.

Minister stressed that the future decisions of the European Council have to reflect the necessity to prompt an integration of the Baltic States into the energy systems of Western and Nordic countries and the specific situation, related to the closure of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant.

During the External Relations session, heads of the EU diplomacy also discussed the preparation for the upcoming European Council meeting on 15-16 October this year, results of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Ministerial Meeting on the Doha Round in Geneva, situation in Somali, Zimbabwe and the Western Balkans.