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On 4-5 September in Luxembourg, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius attended an informal Gymnich meeting of EU Foreign Ministers, which focused on the situation in Ukraine and migration.

The EU Foreign Ministers also discussed the situation in other Eastern partnership countries. Lithuania’s Foreign Minister called for the strengthening of the EU’s involvement in Moldova and Georgia, welcomed the release of political prisoners in Belarus and stressed the need to grant a visa-free regime for Georgia and Ukraine. Linkevičius also highlighted the importance for EU member states to ratify Association Agreements with Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova by the end of the year.

Migration was among the most important issues on the agenda. The EU Foreign Ministers discussed the response to the humanitarian crisis and pressures at the EU’s external borders. The Foreign Minister stressed that Lithuania had been contributing to the EU’s joint response; however, he drew attention to the fact that there was a need not only to look at ways to solve the situation, but also to understand and address its causes. Later, the EU Foreign Ministers were joined by the Ministers of candidate countries to EU accession: Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey. Turkey shoulders an overwhelming burden - the country hosts nearly 2 million Syrian refugees.

The Foreign Ministers continued the debate, which took place at the Foreign Affairs Council on 20 July, and discussed the Middle East peace process. The Ministers agreed that it was important to maintain both issues - the Middle East peace process and bilateral relations with Israel and the Palestinians - on the EU’s agenda in this complex regional context. The discussion on the EU’s involvement will be continued in the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York at the end of the month.