News

On 7 February in Brussels, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Albinas Zananavičius attended the EU’s General Affairs Council, which began preparations for the European Council meeting to be held on 9 and 10 March. The Council examined an annotated draft agenda for the European Council meeting and evaluated progress in implementing the European Council’s decisions.

The main attention was paid to items on the EU agenda, including jobs, growth and competitiveness, security and external relations. The March European Council will discuss the implementation of structural reforms that are important for the EU and for fostering growth in its member states, and will adopt recommendations on the economic policy of the euro area. The European Council meeting will also review progress in the fields of the EU’s single market, the Digital Single Market and energy that are very relevant to the European Union and Lithuania.

“Lithuania is particularly interested in strengthening the EU’s internal market, when removing the remaining barriers to businesses and consumers, strengthening the EU’s internal energy connections, energy security and creating equal competitive conditions relating to third countries,” said Zananavičius.

It was noted that issues related to the internal and external security dimensions in the EU remained highly relevant. It is necessary to continue the EU’s ongoing work to strengthen the EU’s external borders in cooperation with countries of origin and transit of migration to avoid new migration flows. Lithuania attaches great importance to strengthening the EU’s functioning in the fields of hybrid threats, cyber-defence and strategic communication.

Actions to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of the United Nations at the EU level and actions to ensure the implementation of the three pillars of sustainability – the economic, social, and environmental pillars – were also presented.

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