Press release, 3 January 2013

Lithuania’s intensive effort will be needed during its Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second semester of 2013 to address the matters of importance to the whole European Union. This calls for concerted cooperation among the Seimas, the Government, the President, the Permanent Representation of Lithuania to the EU and other institutions. There are plans to adopt over 200 EU legal acts in various fields under the Lithuanian Presidency. Quantity-wise, in the history of the EU, this accounts for the biggest number of legal acts to be adopted by a single Member State during its Presidency.

These were the main emphasis placed by Gediminas Kirkilas, Chairman of the Seimas Committee on European Affairs, at the 3 January 2013 meeting with Raimundas Karoblis, Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the EU, Arūnas Vinčiūnas, Deputy Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the EU, and Tomas Gulbinas, Director of the European Affairs Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Quality-wise, during its Presidency, Lithuania will have to deal with particularly complex European issues, including the adoption of legal acts on implementing the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020, if the EU Member States succeed in reaching a comprehensive agreement on it under the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2013. Lithuania will also focus on the Common Agricultural Policy towards 2020 to ensure that European agriculture is more competitive, more sustainable and more responsive to environment and climate changes; the Fourth Railway Package that aims at developing an efficient, integrated and sustainable European transport system; the revision of the functioning and the structure of the European External Action Service, etc.

Although Lithuania is due to assume the EU Presidency in July 2013, it has already started work in the Trio Presidency along with Ireland and Greece.

Morta Vidūnaitė,

Advisor to Deputy Speaker of the Seimas Gediminas Kirkilas,

tel.: +370 5 239 6278, e-mail: [email protected]