The meeting focused on challenges facing the whole of the European Union. Today Brexit is among them. According to Dalia Grybauskaitė, this is an unprecedented case, but even after the withdrawal of one member state, the Community of 27 countries remains united. The most important task for the whole EU now is to learn the lessons from Brexit, maintain people’s confidence in Europe and not to allow that populist anti-European forces would take advantage of this.
According to the President, the future relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union will be decided upon through negotiation. The UK remains an important economic and security partner of Lithuania. It is now of utmost importance to protect the interests of Lithuanian businesses and Lithuanians living in the United Kingdom. Currently, Great Britain is home to around 200 thousand Lithuanians.
The President and the ambassadors of EU countries also exchanged views on the EU’s external policies and the geopolitical situation in the neighborhood of the Community. Dalia Grybauskaitė stressed that, in the renewed Global Europe strategy, it was necessary to identify very clearly Russia’s threat to EU security and to consolidate a non-recognition policy of the annexation of Crimea.
The President also emphasized that Russia continued not to implement the Minsk agreements. Active military actions are still ongoing in Eastern Ukraine, Russian troops have not been withdrawn from the territory of this country, and control over Ukrainian borders has not been restored. Therefore, there can be no talk of lifting sanctions against Russia.
The ambassadors of EU countries expressed their interest in joining the social campaign “For a Safe Lithuania”, which is under the patronage of President Dalia Grybauskaitė. This campaign aims to encourage society to make an active contribution to dealing with problems regarding addiction, suicide, violence, adoption, and foster care. Launched a few months ago, the social security campaign has already covered the whole of Lithuania and attracted a large number of good initiatives. It is actively supported by well-known people in society, TV stars, artists, public figures, and business representatives.
