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On 15-16 January in Sofia, the Political Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Asta Skaisgirytė attended an informal meeting of Political Directors of the EU’s Foreign Ministries. The meeting was organised by Bulgaria, which holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU from 1 January. The EU Political Directors met to align EU foreign policy priorities for the first half of 2018 and discussed issues related to Russia, the Western Balkans, and the situation in the Middle East.

When speaking about the EU’s policy towards Russia, Skaisgirytė stressed the importance of strengthening the resilience to the Kremlin’s policies and propaganda not only of the EU member states, the Western Balkans and Eastern partners, but also that of Russia’s civil society.

“We should not even have any doubt about maintaining sanctions against Russia, because we do not see any steps taken by Moscow to end the conflict in Ukraine,” said the Political Director of Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry. In a discussion, Political Directors of the EU’s Foreign Ministries agreed that it was important for the European Union to maintain unity, and that the five principles enshrined in the EU’s strategy towards Russia of March 2016 remained the basis for further EU-Russia relations.

As regards the priorities of the Bulgarian Presidency – the Western Balkans – it was noted that each Western Balkan country on the road towards integration into the EU would be judged according to its own effort to meet the conditions for joining the EU. Skaisgirytė, who was supported by her counterparts from other EU member states, expressed Lithuania’s concerns over the geopolitical orientation of Serbia and the avoidance of joining the EU’s statements regarding its common foreign and security policy, especially with regard to Russia. Lithuania's Political Director also called for making use of the upcoming Western Balkans Summit for strengthened strategic communication with regard to this important region, the stability of which guaranteed security of the whole of Europe.

As regards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Political Directors exchanged their views with Nickolay Mladenov, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, on how the international community and the EU in particular could help resolve the conflict and achieve a two-state solution.