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The membership in EU - the best way to fulfill the national interests, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Antanas Valionis said on 26th of June in the conference at the Royal Institute of International Relations in Brussels where candidate countries were invited to discuss about EU enlargement issues and EU future. The President of European Commission Mr. Romano Prodi, Belgium Prime Minister Mr. Guy Verhofstadt, prime ministers of candidate countries and other high officials shared their opinions about EU issues at the conference in the Royal Institute of International Relations. The Foreign Minister A. Valionis pointed out that such kind of meetings shows great attention to the candidate countries and to the enlargement issues in general. On the 1st of July Belgium will take the Presidency after Sweden. The EU enlargement, the debate on the future of Europe and the preparation for the 2004 year intergovernmental conference, where the reforms of EU will be discussed, Belgium points out as the priority during their presidency. "As any other state, Lithuania seeks to protect its national interests. But we also understand that only by sharing our sovereignty we can ensure this. European Union offers the way of co-ordination of national interests and this is the best way to promote them", Minister A. Valionis said. During the discussion Foreign Minister emphasized that the most important question of the EU future is the enlargement, that its success depends on a public support and broad understanding that short-term sacrifices will be by far outweighed by long-term benefits. Talking about the support for the membership among the population, minister mentioned that it is steadily increasing and it stands at around 50 percent. Foreign Minister A. Valionis informed about the debate on the future of Europe that was launched in Lithuania. Minister personally has initiated a series of meetings with the participation of politicians and researchers.