The aim of the meeting, also attended by the Prime Ministers of Latvia, Portugal, Malta, and the President of Cyprus, is to identify areas that unite, not divide, the European Union.
President Dalia Grybauskaitė underlined that Europe needed unity more than ever before. The European Union is challenged by a crisis of confidence. People, still waiting for swift and effective decisions to deal with the migration and unemployment problems that Europe faces today and living in constant fear of terrorism, are losing their faith in the EU.
According to the President, this may further encourage the forces of populism, euroscepticism and radicalism, which would like other EU member states to follow the UK example.
Lithuania, the President said, is strongly against creating any kind of blocs inside the European Union. In these testing times for the EU, she stressed, we need to focus on areas that unite all member states and respond to the expectation of European people.
Every effort had to be made to ensure the security of EU citizens, improve the protection of external borders, strengthen cooperation in the exchange of intelligence, combine databases for sharing information, and counter more effectively hybrid, cyber and energy security threats.
The President pointed out that economic well-being was key for maintaining stability and restoring the people’s trust in the European Union. It was therefore necessary to fight unemployment, strengthen the single market, promote digital economy, and reduce poverty.
President also noted that incidents directed against citizens of other EU countries continued to take place in the United Kingdom. She urged to make a joint effort and take every possible action to stop them.
