Speaker of the Seimas: it is time to think about greater EU support for the Eastern Partnership countries

Press release, 12 July 2018

A photo of the Poland Parliament office (auth. – Krzysztof Białoskórsk)

In the meeting of the speakers of parliaments of Central and Eastern Europe held in Warsaw, Viktoras Pranckietis, Speaker of the Seimas, addressed the heads of parliaments and proposed focusing on the sensitive problems of the region.

The Speaker of the Seimas noted the unresolved conflicts in the neighbourhood of the EU and NATO. “Lithuania is interested in liquidating the sources of instability and ending prologued conflicts at the eastern borders of the EU and NATO. We support further transatlantic and European integration of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine and want NATO to continue its open door policy. We also think that Georgia’s accession to NATO needs to be speeded up,” the Speaker of the Seimas said.

A photo of the Poland Parliament office (auth. – Rafał Zambrzycki)

In his speech, Mr Pranckietis stressed that the Eastern Partnership countries could not be excluded from the process aimed at deeper internal integration of the EU, since this would threaten the economic and energy security of these countries. “The Seimas has drafted A New European Plan for Ukraine, which was welcomed by many national Parliaments in Europe. I believe that similar plans for other associated partners, i.e. Moldova and Georgia, should be considered as well. This would speed up the implementation of reforms and the European integration of these countries,” said the Speaker of the Seimas to the participants of the meeting.

A photo of the Poland Parliament office

The aim of the meeting, which took place in Poland on 12 July 2018, was to strengthen parliamentary cooperation with a view to promoting regional development. The participants of the meeting discussed the energy and transport policies and the infrastructure projects of regional importance, such as Via Baltica, Rail Baltica, Via Carpatia, and LitPol Link. The speakers of parliaments also talked about the enhanced role of parliamentary diplomacy in modern international relations and the role of parliaments in implementing the sustainable development goals. They also considered the idea of setting up a Parliamentary Assembly of Central and Eastern Europe, a project of regional cooperation.

Paulius Žeimys, Assistant to the Speaker of the Seimas, tel. +370 5 239 6030, e-mail: [email protected]