Visits

Working visit by President Dalia Grybauskaitė to Brussels, 25-26 March 2010

Before the European Council meeting, the President met with the heads of the Baltic and Nordic states and governments (NB6). They discussed the main issues on the agenda of the European Council meeting and the prospects for a long-term economic development of the EU.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė underlined that elimination of barriers to economic growth was of utmost importance, mentioning the fragmentation of the EU's energy market as one of the major barriers. According to the President, Lithuania is also committed to tackle the problem of poverty and plans to do this by creating new jobs.

"This European Council meeting is very important for Lithuania as it is dedicated to discussions on the European Union's economic revival strategy towards 2020. On the basis of this strategy, Lithuania will have to develop its own national plan. Heated discussions are going on in Lithuania on our key targets such as reduction of poverty, economic growth, growth of employment, innovation, and decisions to be adopted by the European Council will therefore be very important for us as we develop our national action plan," President Grybauskaitė said.

According to the President, the European Council will discuss climate change and the financial burden to be accepted by every Member State, including Lithuania. It will also discuss possibilities to provide support to crisis-stricken Greece.

"Greece is in difficulty that Latvia, Estonia, and, very worthily, Lithuania have coped with. By joining the euro-zone, Greece has assumed huge commitments to pursue prudent fiscal and monetary policy. Now, in a heavy economic trouble, the country must take responsible, not populist, financial decisions, focus on possible solutions and only then expect assistance from other countries," the President said.

On the first day of the visit, President Dalia Grybauskaitė met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the margins of the European Council.

President Grybauskaitė and Chancellor Merkel discussed the main issues on the agenda of the meeting of the European Council, problems of the Baltic Sea region, bilateral relations, and future cooperation prospects between Lithuania and Germany.

During their bilateral meeting, Angela Merkel confirmed her participation in the summit of the Council of the Baltic Sea States scheduled for next June in Vilnius.

At the European Council meeting that started later in the day, the EU heads of states and governments have agreed on the need to work out a detailed EU development strategy until 2020, setting specific objectives for reducing poverty, promoting economic growth, raising employment rates, improving innovation investment, and targeting education, climate change and the energy sector.

"At the summit meeting, I pointed out to the other leaders that is was necessary to remove, at the EU level, obstacles hindering economic recovery, including the most serious one: the absence of a common EU energy market. The creation of this market is a priority for Lithuania and the other Baltic States. The European Council has taken it into account and has agreed that the new strategy will include the commitment to develop the infrastructure needed for growth at the Community and national levels. This provision will create favorable conditions for building more rapidly Lithuania's energy connections with the European Union," President Dalia Grybauskaitė underlined.

The European Council approved the main targets of the EU development strategy until 2020 to be pursued by member states through their national action programmes. The EU leaders agreed to focus on and streamline their common efforts towards fighting poverty and social exclusion, raising employment rates, improving youth education, and making maximum investments possible under specific national circumstances into scientific research and innovation.

They also confirmed the commitment by member states to increase, by one-fifth, energy efficiency and the share of renewable energy in overall energy generation as well as to reduce air pollution.

"The targets approved by the European Council are very important to Lithuania. The European Council took into account my comments and observations and agreed that the new strategy would include the commitment to develop the infrastructure needed for growth at the Community and national levels. This provision will create favorable conditions for building Lithuania's energy connections to the European Union and ending its energy isolation. No less important is that cohesion and agricultural policies will not be overlooked. It means that we can expect the new financial perspective to ensure appropriate support to Lithuania's rural development," President Dalia Grybauskaitė said after the meeting.

According to the President, in the next three months Lithuania - like other member states - will have to prepare its national development goals to be used later on for defining specific EU action guidelines.

President Grybauskaitė said that the Greek situation and the decision of EU member states to extend together with the International Monetary Fund assistance to Greece was a good lesson to all countries and their politicians to assume full responsibility when dealing with national finances. According to the President, the European Council's decision to establish a special work group to submit concrete recommendation to the Council by the end of the year on ways of strengthening budget discipline in member states would help avoid similar crises in the future or make them easier to overcome.

Press Service of the President