Today, the Plenary Chamber of the Seimas houses the Meeting of the Chairpersons of the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC). The Chairman of the Meeting, Gediminas Kirkilas, Deputy Speaker of the Seimas and Chair of the Committee on European Affairs, thanked Ireland for its successful Presidency of the Council of the European Union during the first half of this year and congratulated Croatia on its accession to the EU on 1 of July 2013.

“I would like to extend my congratulations to Ireland on the completion of your Presidency.  Your commitment to creating a stronger Europe is inspiring. I can assure you that we will continue on the progress achieved in the last six months. Let me also congratulate Croatia, which has just joined the EU. Croatia’s accession to our big European family is significant to both Croatia and the European Union,” Mr Kirkilas said.

The participants of the meeting were welcomed by Dr Vydas Gedvilas, Speaker of the Seimas, who invited every fellow member of Parliaments of the EU to unite efforts for the benefit of the Community. “We must join our coherent and persistent efforts to find ways to create more jobs, promote economic growth, ensure financial resistance, increase competitiveness in Europe, create the internal market for energy, services and digital economy, and restore public trust in the European project.”

The morning session of the Meeting saw the approval of the agenda of the Meeting of the Chairpersons of COSAC as well as of the following procedural points: briefing on the results of the Meeting of the Presidential Troika of COSAC; discussion on the draft agenda of the Plenary Meeting of the L COSAC; presentation of the Outline of the 20th Bi-annual Report of COSAC and other points.

Saulė Eglė Trembo, Public Relations Unit, tel. +370 5239 6203, e-mail: [email protected]