STATEMENT BY MR. ANTANAS VALIONIS, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA AT THE CONFERENCE ON THE FUTURE OF EUROPE, ROYAL INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS (Brussels, 26 June 2001)
Created 2001-06-27
Mr Chairman,
Excellencies,
Dear colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,
First of all, I would like to thank the Prime Minister of Belgium and the Royal Institute of International Relations for the invitation to participate in this conference. It is a very good initiative, which proves that intensifying the debate over the future of Europe which was started at an informal meeting of foreign ministers in Nykoping last month, will be among the top priorities of the Belgian Presidency. Such an exchange of ideas should continue in a variety of official and unofficial formats. Without the participation of Europeans from the East and the West we cannot claim to be building an effective and legitimate Union, based on shared values. In my country the enlargement debate and the debate about the future of Europe are closely associated with each other. This is only natural because for us the enlargement is the question of the nearest future. Accession negotiations, discussions on the costs and benefits of the membership attract close public attention. It became increasingly obvious at the present stage with most difficult, sensitive issues being laid on the table. In this context, I find it extremely important that the enlargement issue would also be debated in the EU member countries thus stimulating an interest of the European population in European politics and its future. To my mind, the most immediate and the most important question of the future is the enlargement. Its success depends on a public support and broad understanding that short-term sacrifices will be by far outweighed by long-term benefits. Up till now we have been managing this rather well in Lithuania. Opinion polls show that the support for the membership among our population is slowly but steadily increasing. It stands at around 50 %. Recently we tried another interesting approach: people were asked how they would describe the EU if it were a person. About 80 % of the respondents gave a positive description saying that it is an honest, reliable, just and clever person. However, in addition to being described as a big and ideal friend, it was also perceived as a selfish manager. Let me say a few words on the debate on the future of Europe that we have launched in Lithuania. I personally have initiated a series of meetings with the participation of politicians and researchers reflecting on the post-Nice issues. We understand the discussion about the future as the discussion about the improvement - the improvement of the political project of unification of our continent. There should be no hasty conclusions as the questions of the debate are of fundamental importance. Lithuania agrees with the Belgian point of view that the main task of the open reflection phase is to ask the right questions in Laeken. As any other state, Lithuania seeks to protect its national interests. But we also understand that only by sharing our sovereignty we can ensure this. European Union offers the way of co-ordination of national interests and this is the best way to promote them. Enhanced co-operation and policy-specific items are important issues for Lithuania. We want a coherent European Union. We understand enhanced co-operation as an inclusive process in the spirit of Jean Monnet. The rules of enhanced co-operation as laid out in Amsterdam and Nice can be effectively used. I fully agree with the Belgian Prime Minister who stated in one of his speeches that the enhanced co-operation should be "an instrument of integration, not exclusion". The same principles should be used when reforming policy-specific issues of the EU because they are also of great interest for all European citizens. Since the current debate about the future is meant to draw on the wide public concern, it has to take into consideration all the issues that worry people in their daily lives. If EU is to remain a successful project, it has to take into account which policies need to be reformed or carried along into a bigger Union. This aspect is very important for the candidate countries, including Lithuania. We are aiming to join the European Union that we understand and that has proved a success. If anything is to change, it has to be carried out in such a way that we do not find ourselves in a Union which is completely different from the one to which we started our journey a decade ago. If any profound changes are to be made, they have to be justified and acceptable to both old and new members.Our region will change fundamentally after the EU enlargement. The Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation will become an enclave within the Union. It should be able to benefit from it. This is a unique situation and it asks for a special attention and possibly special solutions. Both Lithuania and the Union have a shared interest in that the economic growth and wealth are generated in Kaliningrad. Over the recent years we have been successful in opening up Kaliningrad for the regional co-operation around the Baltic Sea, and ensuring the positive involvement of the central authorities in Moscow. We appreciate that these efforts and achievements, which are very much related to the strengthening of the external dimensions of the EU, are recognised by our partners in the Union. Nice also has prompted a decision on the method of the debate. Having witnessed the deficiencies of conventional intergovernmental negotiations, EU member-states understood that they needed something different, that they should opt for pooling the best minds together. It is also my understanding that the experience gained in preparing the Human Rights Charter might be useful in this respect. In any case the agenda of the debate should be open-ended if we are to see the broadest possible participation of our populations. In conclusion, I would like to express my strong believe that the IGC in Nice was the last one where we participated as observers and that Lithuania shall participate as a member state in the IGC in 2004. Consequently, we want to be fully involved in all the phases of the preparation of this Conference. I can assure that Lithuania is ready to make her contribution. Thank you for your attention.
Excellencies,
Dear colleagues,
Ladies and gentlemen,
First of all, I would like to thank the Prime Minister of Belgium and the Royal Institute of International Relations for the invitation to participate in this conference. It is a very good initiative, which proves that intensifying the debate over the future of Europe which was started at an informal meeting of foreign ministers in Nykoping last month, will be among the top priorities of the Belgian Presidency. Such an exchange of ideas should continue in a variety of official and unofficial formats. Without the participation of Europeans from the East and the West we cannot claim to be building an effective and legitimate Union, based on shared values. In my country the enlargement debate and the debate about the future of Europe are closely associated with each other. This is only natural because for us the enlargement is the question of the nearest future. Accession negotiations, discussions on the costs and benefits of the membership attract close public attention. It became increasingly obvious at the present stage with most difficult, sensitive issues being laid on the table. In this context, I find it extremely important that the enlargement issue would also be debated in the EU member countries thus stimulating an interest of the European population in European politics and its future. To my mind, the most immediate and the most important question of the future is the enlargement. Its success depends on a public support and broad understanding that short-term sacrifices will be by far outweighed by long-term benefits. Up till now we have been managing this rather well in Lithuania. Opinion polls show that the support for the membership among our population is slowly but steadily increasing. It stands at around 50 %. Recently we tried another interesting approach: people were asked how they would describe the EU if it were a person. About 80 % of the respondents gave a positive description saying that it is an honest, reliable, just and clever person. However, in addition to being described as a big and ideal friend, it was also perceived as a selfish manager. Let me say a few words on the debate on the future of Europe that we have launched in Lithuania. I personally have initiated a series of meetings with the participation of politicians and researchers reflecting on the post-Nice issues. We understand the discussion about the future as the discussion about the improvement - the improvement of the political project of unification of our continent. There should be no hasty conclusions as the questions of the debate are of fundamental importance. Lithuania agrees with the Belgian point of view that the main task of the open reflection phase is to ask the right questions in Laeken. As any other state, Lithuania seeks to protect its national interests. But we also understand that only by sharing our sovereignty we can ensure this. European Union offers the way of co-ordination of national interests and this is the best way to promote them. Enhanced co-operation and policy-specific items are important issues for Lithuania. We want a coherent European Union. We understand enhanced co-operation as an inclusive process in the spirit of Jean Monnet. The rules of enhanced co-operation as laid out in Amsterdam and Nice can be effectively used. I fully agree with the Belgian Prime Minister who stated in one of his speeches that the enhanced co-operation should be "an instrument of integration, not exclusion". The same principles should be used when reforming policy-specific issues of the EU because they are also of great interest for all European citizens. Since the current debate about the future is meant to draw on the wide public concern, it has to take into consideration all the issues that worry people in their daily lives. If EU is to remain a successful project, it has to take into account which policies need to be reformed or carried along into a bigger Union. This aspect is very important for the candidate countries, including Lithuania. We are aiming to join the European Union that we understand and that has proved a success. If anything is to change, it has to be carried out in such a way that we do not find ourselves in a Union which is completely different from the one to which we started our journey a decade ago. If any profound changes are to be made, they have to be justified and acceptable to both old and new members.Our region will change fundamentally after the EU enlargement. The Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation will become an enclave within the Union. It should be able to benefit from it. This is a unique situation and it asks for a special attention and possibly special solutions. Both Lithuania and the Union have a shared interest in that the economic growth and wealth are generated in Kaliningrad. Over the recent years we have been successful in opening up Kaliningrad for the regional co-operation around the Baltic Sea, and ensuring the positive involvement of the central authorities in Moscow. We appreciate that these efforts and achievements, which are very much related to the strengthening of the external dimensions of the EU, are recognised by our partners in the Union. Nice also has prompted a decision on the method of the debate. Having witnessed the deficiencies of conventional intergovernmental negotiations, EU member-states understood that they needed something different, that they should opt for pooling the best minds together. It is also my understanding that the experience gained in preparing the Human Rights Charter might be useful in this respect. In any case the agenda of the debate should be open-ended if we are to see the broadest possible participation of our populations. In conclusion, I would like to express my strong believe that the IGC in Nice was the last one where we participated as observers and that Lithuania shall participate as a member state in the IGC in 2004. Consequently, we want to be fully involved in all the phases of the preparation of this Conference. I can assure that Lithuania is ready to make her contribution. Thank you for your attention.
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