STATEMENT BY MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS ANTANAS VALIONIS AT THE PLENARY SESSION DISCUSSION OF THE SEIMAS OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
Created 2002-06-27
Development of Lithuania’s Negotiations for the EU Accession and Key Tasks for the Second Semester of 2002 27 June 2002, Vilnius Honourable Members of the Seimas,Dear Colleagues,Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a great pleasure for me that it becomes a good tradition to hold a discussion on the most important issues of Lithuania’s EU integration at least once in every session of the Seimas. Since December when we last gathered for such a debate at a plenary session in the Seimas, there have been a number of developments in our EU accession negotiations and our work towards EU integration. A few days ago we returned from the EU Summit in Seville. A wide scope of issues has been discussed there, but among the most important ones were the development of EU immigration policy, institutional reforms that are necessary while implementing further tasks and getting ready for the enlargement of the EU. Both in Seville and in Vilnius, it has become clear that the negotiations for the EU accession have entered their final stage. Therefore, it is natural that in today’s discussion there is a number of the Members of the Government present – Ministers of Finance, Economy and Agriculture, importance and responsibility of whose work will be immense over the coming months and even more so after Lithuania joins the EU. It is also clear that each of the three key priorities of Lithuania’s foreign policy, i.e. integration into NATO and the European Union as well as neighbourly relations, are currently in such a stage of implementation, after which Lithuania will find itself in a qualitatively different situation. Step by step, task after task, chapter after chapter we are creating this new quality and I think that we manage to cope with these tasks well. The President of the Republic, the Government and the Seimas strategically agree that the end of this year should crown an important stage of our state’s strengthening and international development. The political parties and interest groups support this general direction even though they are discussing the issues of tactics or particularities of decisions. Public opinion polls also show that the society understands the importance of Lithuania’s EU membership and supports it. Our membership in the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation seems to be at hand. Over the decade, these organisations have been changing. And they will continue to do so. Thus, we should concentrate and all the closer observe the changing circumstances in Europe and beyond, and we have to map our actions adequately. The most important tasks of negotiations for this semester are reflected in the Report of the Delegation for Negotiations, which has been distributed to you and which the Chief Negotiator will comment on subsequently. Ladies and Gentlemen, Since the very beginning of the negotiations holding a realistic view of the complexities of the process and of our situation, we strived that at the final stage of these negotiations we could concentrate on strategic and the most important issues. Obviously, there cannot be many issues like that. Today with less than six months to go until the end of negotiations, we can state that there are two issues left on the agenda. Two measures, according to which we will measure our conditions of the EU accession. These are agriculture and financing of the closure of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. These issues are directly related to the negotiations on contributions to and payments from the EU budget. Indeed, when the Seimas adopts its decision to negotiate for a transition period on the right to foreigners to acquire agricultural land in Lithuania, we will bring the free movement of capital back into the negotiations. On Monday, we saw how heated debates on these issues can be. I think that in this situation political-psychological motives prevail, which we should take into consideration for the sake of “social peace”. On the other hand, our partners in the EU understand that this is a matter of the constitutional level. This position was expressed during my yesterday’s meeting with the Foreign Minister of Denmark, the country which is taking over the EU presidency. I am convinced that in a few years, the misgivings that lead to the decision on the transition period will be dispelled. If negotiations with the EU are successful, we will have to spare no effort for Lithuanian farmers and landowners to utilise this opportunity to the fullest. As for the neighbourly relations, too, there is a distinct role that the EU and our membership plays. The EU relations with Russia (first of all, with its Kaliningrad Region), and by the same token with Belarus and Ukraine are, were, and will be important to us. Honourable Members of the Seimas,Honourable Colleagues,Before commenting on previously discussed issues, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that together with the organisations, which we aspire to join the European political map is changing simultaneously. Shifts in political forces is a natural phenomenon in Europe. We should be aware, however, of intensifying discussions and doubts about the consequences and terms of the European Union enlargement that occur as a result of those shifts. Recently, I had an opportunity to communicate with a lot of colleagues from European countries and the highest EU authorities: I would not call it anxiety, but certain concern and reassessment of the situation on the eve of crucial decisions is there.As far as agriculture is concerned, I think that the European Union will come to the agreement on its negotiation position in October or at the beginning of November, at the latest. The present proposal of the European Commission (including the issue of payments) is a compromise. Maybe it is not final.In any case, we must be aware ourselves that the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy will target rural development to greater extent and will resemble the current SAPARD. Therefore, it is important for us to appropriately utilise present EU assistance, which will allow us to develop more advanced and efficient agriculture in Lithuania at a faster pace. The current absorption of SAPARD and a widening circle of recipients is encouraging.The Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant is a specific issue in our negotiations. On June 11, we achieved the EU’s recognition of the scope and durability of the consequences arising from the closure of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant. The EU member states have also recognised the insufficiency of traditional financial assistance and the need for agreement on additional funds. Thus, the way was paved for the negotiations on the programme that would allocate additional EU financial assistance to the closure of the Ignalina NPP. The Resolution of May 14 passed by the Seimas of Lithuania sketched the fundamental guidelines for the development of further strategy of negotiations.There is no other strategy for this issue! There is no strategy for staying alone with the burden of the closure of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, as it is obvious that Lithuania is not capable to close the Ignalina NNP on its own. There is no other strategy for accumulating sufficient funds, even if we operated the plant for the nearest 10 or 12 years. All critics of the Government are aware of that.The Government, better than anyone else, is aware of the complexity of the problem: tensions arising from social, regional and environmental matters; however, the overall circumstances allow to believe that we can take on the work with Europe’s help. I think the Ministries of Economy and Finance should also now get actively involved into negotiations and detailed argumentation on the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant.The prospects of our nuclear energy are not the issue in the accession negotiations. Preparing the amendments to the National Energy Strategy, the Government will investigate those prospects in accordance with the above mentioned resolution of the Seimas.By the way, we will be able to discuss the Ignalina issue and other relevant negotiation issues at high political level already next week, when Vilnius will host Günther Verheugen, whose input into the settlement of this issue we should highly appreciate. The Commissioner will be speaking here, at the plenary discussion, next Thursday.Ladies and Gentlemen, During the EU Summit in Seville, the most important topic was not enlargement, but the policy of internal European security: immigration, asylum, and protection of external borders. Naturally, these issues, especially borders, are particularly important to us. In the enlarged EU, Vilnius will be the closest capital to the Union’s Eastern border. We will be responsible not only for the control of our own border, but also for that of the EU. We should be more proactive in preparing for the debates on joint responsibility for border protection and take this project seriously and positively in order to avoid this responsibility becoming a burden for Lithuania alone. If this project were successful, not only it would allow us to share challenges of border protection, but, I believe, it would bring our accession closer to the Schengen Agreement area. However, the EU border should not become an impassable “Great Wall of Europe”. President of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus told the European leaders in Seville that our goal is a Union which takes into consideration expectations of its neighbours. We should remain open and sensitive to our neighbours. This is especially true for Kaliningrad. Like Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas has noted recently, Lithuania is determined to make use of all measures, legally permitted by the Schengen Agreements, in order to ensure smooth movement through our border. So was the decision of the Seville Summit, which addressed the European Commission with a request to present an additional study on the possibility to solve the problem of transit of goods and persons from and to Kaliningrad in an effective and flexible way, in accordance with the acquis requirements, and with the consent of the relevant candidate states, i.e. Poland and Lithuania. While in order to avoid the negative aspects of the EU enlargement, our neighbours Russia and Belarus should do their homework too, i.e. to ensure adequate travel documents, invest somewhat more into the development and modernisation of border crossing points, expand the network of consulates to Sovietsk, Gardin, and elsewhere. We would also encourage the expansion of their consular network so that our people could enjoy equal opportunities, too. I am sure that the EU enlargement will bring mutual benefits for the residents of Lithuania and Kaliningrad alike.Honourable members of the Seimas!What I have said reflects the schedule of our activities from now till the end of the year. The last moments of this race can also depend on the conditions that would be too complicated for Lithuania to predict: there could be a joint agreement of EU’s current members on assistance to farmers of the new member states, EU’s internal policy changes, and finally, the results of the second Irish referendum on the Treaty of Nice to be held in autumn. But as we yesterday agreed with the Danish Foreign Minister – we cannot plan “political accidents” and perhaps we do not have the right to do so. We are doing everything so that we could be delighted with the results of our common work at the European Summit in Copenhagen, in December. On our part, it is important that the cooperation between the Seimas and the Government would be as constructive as it is now and that the parliamentary European Affairs Committee would be and further remain as active as presently is. It is true that our EU accession work will not end with the negotiations. After having concluded them, we will sign the Accession Treaty. It will be possible to do this at the beginning of the next year during the Greek Presidency over the EU. The Seimas will also have a task on its hands, i.e. to ratify this multilateral agreement of a large scope. This will be a complicated technical and legal process, in which I also see a significant role of parliamentarians and political parties in communicating with parliaments of the EU member states as well as kindred parties in seeking the ratification of the Accession Treaty.We must further prepare for the work at the EU institutions. Every year over 5000 meetings at a different level are held in Brussels. Only a sufficient number of well prepared Lithuanian diplomats and officials will be able to properly represent Lithuania there. A relevant study has been completed and we will present it to the interested committees of the Seimas in the near future. The only thing is clear – workload and responsibility will require strong consolidation of our resources and their optimal usage! The nature of the work of the EU institutions is also changing. It was agreed on certain reforms in Seville. For example, General Affairs Council (i.e. Foreign Affairs Ministers) from now on will be called General Affairs and Foreign Relations Council and will have two different responsibilities: horizontal issues and foreign policy issues. The number of Ministers-Councils has been diminished and their work will be more transparent and open to the public. Seeking to make strategic functions more distinct, the EU Summit meetings will be shorter, timetables better prepared, and delegations smaller. Also, the Presidency over the EU is to be reformed (presidency arrangement, duration of the rotation, and so on). We should seek that the EU institutional balance would be preserved in the course of further reforms and that the role of the European Commission and other EU institutions would not relatively diminish with the strengthening of the Council. These issues have been confided to the representatives of the Lithuanian Government and the Seimas. I welcome a discussion on this issue to be held in the Seimas next week. Honourable members of the Seimas,Thank you for attention. I am looking forward to today’s discussion with you.
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