THE EUROPEAN UNION HAS TO ASPIRE FOR CONCRETE RESULTS IN ITS RELATIONS WITH THE NEIGHBOURS IN THE EAST
On 18 June in Luxemburg at the General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Petras Vaitiekūnas and heads of diplomacy of other EU member states discussed the conclusions of the upcoming European Council.
One of the most important issues concerns the EU’s Constitutional Treaty. The main discussion regarding the treaty will take place in the European Council.
Ministers also discussed the issue of strengthening the EU Neighbourhood Policy. Lithuania together with Poland and other countries stressed that the EU had to pay more attention to the development of relations with the neighbouring countries in the East.
Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs suggested that a separate regional dimension should be created for the EU relations with the neighbours in the East, as it is currently successfully managed with the Mediterranean countries.
“It is necessary for the EU to coordinate its actions better in order to achieve concrete results in the Eastern Neighbourhood policy,” said Minister P.Vaitiekūnas.
According to the Head of Lithuanian diplomacy, it would be necessary to initiate the facilitation of the EU visa regime for the citizens of Georgia in the nearest future. European Commissioner for EU’s External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner suggested that Foreign Ministers should address the Ministers of the Interior of their countries to solve this issue.
GAERC approved a position on the basic EU decision in relation to the fight against racism and xenophobia. This opens the door to the EU discussion on the evaluation of the consequences of totalitarian regimes. The final decision in this matter will be adopted by the European Council.
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