Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė, Chair of the Seimas Committee on European Affairs, states that Ukraine’s reconstruction must be coordinated by the EU

Press release, 19 September 2022 

Photo by Džoja Gunda Barysaitė, Office of the Seimas

At the invitation of Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė, Chair of the Seimas Committee on European Affairs (Committee), the Chairpersons of the Committees on European Affairs of Estonian and Polish Parliaments visited Vilnius on 18–19 September 2022. At the meeting, the parliamentarians discussed energy security amid the war waged by Russia, the challenges, opportunities and priorities related to Ukraine’s reconstruction, and the agenda of the forthcoming Plenary Meeting of the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs (COSAC).

Welcoming the participants, Ms Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė recalled Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission (Commission), stating in last week’s State of the Union address that Europe as a whole had to listen to long-standing warnings coming from the Baltic States and Poland that Vladimir Putin would not stop. Being well aware of the threats posed by Putin’s Russia, the Baltic States have taken steps to create energy independence and set an example across Europe.

‘The energy crisis currently faced by Europe necessitates adaptation measures and joint European solutions. Effective temporary measures to control energy prices must be agreed as soon as possible without compromising the security of energy supply and the functioning of the internal energy market,’ stressed the Chair of the Committee.

Ms Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė also highlighted the need for the Commission’s stronger voice in seeking solutions to the EU’s common issues, including energy independence, prices, supply of resources, Ukraine’s accession to the EU, and Ukraine’s reconstruction. ‘Ukraine’s place is within the EU family. Joint efforts must be made to make Ukraine’s path towards EU integration as short as possible. Therefore, Ukraine’s reconstruction process must be efficient and coordinated. Particular attention must be paid to reforms, boosting administrative capacities, and linking future investment to Ukraine’s European integration path. This would not only help to modernise the country, but also bring Ukraine closer to the very important goal of EU membership,’ Ms Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė stressed.

When referring to the commencing reconstruction activities in Ukraine, the Chair of the Committee stressed that the military breakthrough in Ukraine and Ukraine’s significant successive military achievements offered us great hopes for Ukraine’s victory in this war. We need to get involved in the reconstruction process as early as possible and thus contribute to ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian state.

The participants of the meeting also discussed the progress on the synchronisation of the Baltic States’ electricity grids, emphasised the importance of further acceleration of this project for Lithuania’s energy security, exchanged the views on possible ways of curbing high prices of energy resources, and debated on the steps taken by Estonia and Poland to control energy prices and ensure energy supply.

During the visit, the guests visited the Electricity System Management and Data Security Centre of the Electricity Transmission System Operator ‘Litgrid’ and BOD Group.

The Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs (COSAC) is the largest and most important event of the European affairs committees of Parliaments of the EU Member States held for discussing the most important items on the EU agenda. COSAC is convened by the Parliament of the Member State holding the Presidency of the Council of the EU. Informal meetings of the chairpersons of the European affairs committees of Parliaments of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are held in rotation before each plenary meeting of COSAC.

The LXVIII Plenary Meeting of COSAC will take place in Prague on 13–15 November 2022.

Aistė Pikiotienė, Adviser, Office of the Committee on European Affairs of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, tel. +370 5 239 6864