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On 18 October in Luxembourg, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Raimondas Karoblis participated in the EU’s General Affairs Council meeting, which finalised preparations of the European Council on 20-21 October and pursued the work on the mid-term review of the EU’s budgetary framework for 2014-2020.

“Free trade agreements with third countries contribute to economic growth and job creation. We need to immediately sign the already negotiated EU-Canada treaty, and continue to negotiate with the U.S.A. and Japan. On the other hand, it is important to ensure the EU’s competitiveness by modernizing trade defence measures. It is particularly important for Lithuania to avoid dual pricing of energy resources,” said Karoblis.

In a debate on challenges to the EU migration policy, Karoblis said that it was necessary to implement what had been agreed, in particular strengthening the EU’s external borders and concluding partnership agreements with third countries, not limited to Africa, but also with such important countries as Afghanistan.

When speaking about the next step in visa liberalisation, Lithuania’s Foreign Vice-Minister reminded of the EU’s remaining commitments to Georgia and Ukraine, which had already fulfilled all the necessary criteria required for their citizens to travel to the EU without a visa.

As regards the mid-term review of the EU’s multiannual financial framework, Lithuania’s Foreign Vice-Minister noted that funding for the EU long-term commitments should not be reduced due to the allocation of recourses when facing new challenges, in particular in such value-added areas, as cohesion and agricultural policy, which remain important to Lithuania. We recognize that in order to enable the EU to respond effectively to new challenges, such as migration crisis, it is important to make the use of the EU budget more flexible. On the other hand, a responsible budget policy and plans are still important.

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