Brussels, 04/06/2013 (Agence Europe) - Should Lithuania wish to use the rotating Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers it will hold from 1 July to 31 December 2013 to make Europe more credible in terms of more growth and greater openness, it will firstly have to make progress on the multiannual financial framework. The Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the EU, Raimundas Karoblis, is, however, still hoping that agreement will be obtained under the Irish Presidency. On 4 June at a European Policy Centre conference, he said: “We will have the finalisation of legislation and implementation programmes”, most of which is expected to be in place by the end of the year. He also explained that the trio of presidencies (Ireland, Lithuania and Greece) had therefore put more than 300 proposals on the table, including 56 legislative proposals and 19 legal acts linked to the multiannual financial framework.
Lithuania is therefore seeking to make progress on many different subjects and will focus on “objectives that can be attained”.
The incoming Presidency believes that Europe's credibility depends on being able to make progress on consolidation of public finances, establishing financial stability, banking union and the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). It will prove difficult to make progress in these different areas because of the general elections next September in Germany and the ambassador asserted that “the general elections will influence the timetable but not the substance”. He also indicated that political decisions would undoubtedly be pushed back to the end of October at the earliest but that the technical work would continue.
Karoblis considers, however, that credibility also depends on citizens, with emphasis on human rights and “citizens' justice”. He would like to make progress on setting up the post of European Prosecutor.
Like the previous Presidencies, Lithuania will focus on a Europe of growth and jobs, particularly for young people. This will be done through the finalisation of the Single Market Act 1 and progress on Act 2, the digital agenda and single energy market.
The Lithuanian Presidency wants an open Europe and is prioritising the Eastern Partnership summit next November in Vilnius at which it expects progress to be made. Karoblis also wants to promote free-trade agreements with the US and Japan and move forward on establishing a mandate for an investment agreement with China. He describes his country as “a friend of enlargement” and although Croatia will join the EU on the first day of its presidency, the Baltic country is also hoping to make progress with the Balkan countries and Turkey and considers that it would still be possible to open one or several chapters with Ankara, under its presidency. Lithuanian is also seeking to begin discussions on “smart borders” and legal migration (students, businessmen etc.). (CG/transl.fl)