Brussels, 01/07/2013 (Agence Europe) - The multiannual financial framework (MFF) of the EU and banking union will be among the priority subjects of the Lithuanian Presidency of the EU Council, which started on 1 July. This is the first time that the country has held the rotating presidency.
The Lithuanian ambassador to the EU, Raimundas Karoblis, told a press conference in Brussels on Monday 1 July that “there is still much to be done over the MFF. This is our priority, it is critical for the future of Europe. Our aim is for all programmes to be in place by 1 January 2014 (…). This will be our main task”, he stated. He said that the Lithuanian Presidency still had to tackle 32 dossiers related to the MFF, such as cohesion, the European social fund, fisheries, justice and home affairs and external policy instruments. “They should be concluded, I hope that they will be under our Presidency (…). There are lots of little proposals remaining”, Karoblis said. The Presidency will also work on the annual budget 2014 (Budget Council to be held on 25 July).
A further priority of the Presidency is banking union and budgetary discipline. The ambassador explained that trialogue meetings on banking restructuring (see EUROPE 10875) and the MiFID directive (see EUROPE 10872) are due to start by mid-July. He also hopes progress will be made on fraud and tax evasion.
Vilnius intends to pursue: - efforts on the single market (single market acts I and II and digital agenda); - the implementation of measures taken for employment; - the implementation of the single market for energy and the third energy package the 2014 and solutions for “energy islands” by 2015.
Lithuania “will do all in its power to allow Bulgaria and Romania to join the Schengen zone” (on the agenda of the JHA Council of July), said the ambassador. He pointed out that reports by the European Commission on this subject are expected. “We anticipate a positive report. But this is a tough dossier, unanimity is required and a number of member states are still concerned, I feel. We will do all we can to appease their fears, but Romania and Bulgaria must do likewise”, explained the ambassador, stressing that his country would “do all it can to conclude the dossier”.
Another red-letter day in the calendar of the Lithuanian Presidency will be the Vilnius summit of the Eastern partnership at the end of November, with the possible signature of association agreements with Moldova, Georgia and Armenia and the signature of a similar agreement with Ukraine. The Presidency also hopes to make progress on the free-trade agreements with the US and with Japan. Lastly, it intends to make the field of enlargement a priority. Ambassador Karoblis noted that the Lithuanian Presidency will be the last one to remain unaffected by the elections at the European Parliament in May 2014. “It is vital that we achieve as many results as we can to allow the legislative procedures to conclude before the elections (…). This is a unique opportunity open to us and we will make the most of it”, he said. (CG/transl.fl)