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On 6 June, Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Rytis Martikonis speaking at the Convention on the Future of the EU noted that “achievements of the European integration, values of the European Union and its citizens have to be protected. We need European area of freedom, security and justice.” Rytis Martikonis stated that “new threats are beyond capacities of an individual state, thus they can be resisted only by relying on joint EU efforts based on tested experiences and methods.” He noted that it is the Union of 2004 – and not only the Union of today that should participate in all the stages of these projections. Rytis Martikonis said that “the implementation of the European Commission’s initiative on the EU’s external border management would help to strengthen a public order system in Europe. Lithuania, the capital of which is only thirty kilometres from the future Eastern border of the European Union, feels double responsibility - for itself and for Europe”. According to the Secretary of the Ministry, financial responsibilities for common border management should be shouldered by all beneficiaries, finding the right balance between the Community budget and national capacities regardless of the length of the Eastern EU border. “Legal, historic and national sensitivities are there in the solution of these complex tasks but they should be addressed by more rather than less of co-operation and mutual trust”, the Lithuanian Government Representative to the Convention noted.