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EU Baltic Sea Strategy- New Opportunities for the People of the Region

Dear Minister-President Sellering,

Dear Minister Malmström,

Dear Commissioner Hübner,

Distinguished guests,

It is great to be back in Rostock after almost twenty-two years.

I came here in 1988 while working with a Lithuanian student team in Greifswald, building a railway line. 

During my first visit,  Berlin wall was still dividing Europe; people were taking risks to speak their minds; and my country’s freedom was yet  a dream.

Today I am here as my country’s Foreign Minister, but as you will see, railways are still on my mind. 

We have truly come a long way since then.

Together, we the member states are building a new united Europe.

In that united Europe, however, the full potential of the Baltic region is yet to be tapped.

We therefore welcome the EU’s Baltic Sea Strategy and hope it will become a blueprint for building a dynamic and open region of innovations, sustained economic growth, forward-looking infrastructure development, and a highly competitive business environment providing for vigorous investment and trade.

Lithuania expects the Strategy to address the remaining integration gaps such as the situation of the three Baltic States, which continue to be an odd valley of exclusion in an ever more integrated European Union. 

Let me raise a few points.

First,  energy.

It is vital to speed up the creation of a well-functioning and integrated European internal energy market. 

For this, we need to solve the problem of the so- called “energy islands” and integrate the Baltic States into the common EU energy network.

In this regard I would like to thank the European Commission for its engagement in elaborating the Baltic Energy Interconnection Plan.

I hope that this plan, together with additional financing from the European Economy Recovery Plan, will be instrumental in overcoming our region’s energy isolation. 

I invite all member states to support it.

Besides reducing regional energy isolation, implementation of electricity interconnections with Sweden, Finland and Poland would also pave the way for our joining the UCTE system.

In view of Europe’s gas vulnerability as demonstrated by the recent gas crisis, we also need to develop gas interconnections as well as LNG and underground storage facilities in the region.

On the other hand, promotion of renewable and environmentally sustainable energy in the Baltic Sea region would help to decrease energy dependency on a single  supplier and strengthen our energy security.

This would also help in coping with the challenges posed by climate change.

We should follow the leadership of our Nordic partners-  Sweden and Denmark- in this regard.

This leads me to my second point: the environment. We should envisage improved information sharing and building successful green investment schemes that could become a financial tool for environmental projects.

Use of existing European initiatives such as the European Institute of Innovation and Technology should be enhanced to promote green innovation and empower scientists and businesses working in the field.

In our view,  the Baltic Sea Strategy should also address the most urgent marine environment risks, such as Baltic Sea pollution, eutrophication, and increased ship traffic.

When planning large-scale commercial and infrastructural activities, we need to take into account the dangers posed by chemical weapons which had been dumped into the Baltic  Sea, and I hope that the Stragey can include cooperation on this matter.

Third, transport.

Our aim is the full integration of the transport infrastructure of the Baltic nations into the trans-European networks. Travel by rail from Vilnius to Warsaw, Berlin, or Kaliningrad should be a matter of two to three hours, and not eight or twelve hours as it is today.

Transport sustainability would be improved by building the East-West corridor, or the so-called green corridor, which would serve as an efficient link between transport hubs in northern Germany, Nordic countries, and the Baltic States.   

Furthermore, all of us- the EU, the Commission, and the  member states- should encourage our neighbours Belarus and Russia to apply international transport/transit/border crossing standards and principles, by putting this issue on the EU-Belarus, EU-Russia agenda.

Fourth, innovations.

Innovations and knowledge-based economy are a necessity, especially in the light of the current economic downturn.  We are keen to build regional innovations networks by promoting deeper cross-Baltic cooperation and integration of universities, science and research centres, and improving knowledge mobility.

This would enable us to enhance the competitiveness of the region and to strengthen the EU’s competitive edge on the global market.

Fifth,  shared values.

To safeguard the prosperity and security of our people, it is  our common interest to be surrounded by like-minded nations who respect democracy, freedom and the rule of law.

To make sure that respect for democracy and the rule of law gains ground further East, we need to be smarter in reaching out to the common Russians and Belarusians and  sustaining  the urge for more openness and freedom in these societies.

Enhancing people-to-people contacts is vital in this respect. For this, we need to ease communication across our borders.

We need to go beyond visa facilitation for Kaliningrad Region and Belarus, to creating a visa free regime, starting with Kaliningrad and moving towards a wider visa free area around the Baltic.

Ladies and gentlemen,

While fleshing out the Baltic Sea Strategy, we are also looking for interconnections between the Strategy and the programme for Lithuania’s upcoming presidency of the Council of the Baltic Sea States which will start on 1 July 2009.

Without going into detail, I just want to point out that during our  CBSS presidency, we will seek to enhance Baltic Sea cooperation at all levels, from the smallest administrative units to sub-regions and regions.

Cooperation and exchange of best practices across the Baltic Sea region on renewable energy development will be high on our priority list.

Human dimension will be a major focus of our presidency through projects enhancing people-to-people contacts, educational partnerships, youth and NGO projects, cross-cultural dialogue and tourism promotion within the Baltic region.

We propose to hold the second tourism summit in Klaipėda in October this year, following last year’s excellent initiative by  Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

We shall seek to actively involve our neighbours Russia and Belarus.

In our view, these countries should be seen as an integral part of the common vision of the future of the wider Baltic Sea region- not the least, because their participation is strongly needed for implementing specific priority projects, especially in transport and environment sectors; and also to improve the effectiveness of common fight against illegal migration, organized crime, and human trafficking. 

Ladies and gentlemen,

 The EU’s Baltic Sea Strategy is first and foremost an internal strategy. A strong, cohesive, secure and prosperous Baltic Sea region offers the double benefit of adding to the prosperity and security of the Union as a whole, and enhancing the ability of the European Union to project that security and prosperity as well as the values it is built on where it matters. And to the East, it matters a lot.