Committee on European Affairs: Brexit was a wake-up call that summoned the EU’s unity

2017-04-14, 13:54

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On 7 April 2017, the Seimas Committee on European Affairs, the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the European Information Office of the Information and Communication Department of the Office of the Seimas held a conference–discussion titled BREXIT: what it means for Lithuania and the European Union. The focus of the discussion was the impact of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU (Brexit) on the European Union itself, the Republic of Lithuania, and the United Kingdom. The conference–discussion was attended by foreign ambassadors residing in Lithuania, Members of the Seimas, officials of the Office of the President and the Government, civil servants of ministries and public institutions, and civil society representatives.

Gediminas Kirkilas, Deputy Speaker of the Seimas and Chair of the Committee on European Affairs, welcomed the participants of the event and referred to the challenge of Brexit, which the EU was facing. He stressed that as a person who was involved in our country’s European integration processes, he found it obvious that while preserving the project of the European Union was of vital importance for Lithuania, good relations with the UK would not only be preserved but may be even strengthened. Juozas Bernatonis, Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, pointed out that the European Union needed the United Kingdom and vice versa; thus a close and solid partnership was necessary for the sake of building a strong Europe. He expressed his hope that the formula of a close and solid partnership would become the model for further development of the EU–UK and bilateral Lithuania–UK relations.

Albinas Zananavičius, Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, emphasised that Brexit was as if a wake-up call for the whole EU, which awakened the Union and forced it to rethink the common European values, Europe’s unity and peace as well as where to invest and what to promote for the sake of common good.

When referring to Lithuania’s interests, Jovita Neliupšienė, Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the EU, underlined that over the decade (2005–2015) of EU membership, Lithuania’s GDP had doubled while the UK had been and continued to be one of the key economic and trade partners of Lithuania. The UK ranked 12th in terms of direct investment into the Lithuanian economy. Ms Neliupšienė therefore highlighted that the common goal of Lithuania and the UK was to preserve the single market.

As he summed up the discussion, Mindaugas Puidokas, Deputy Chair of the Committee on European Affairs, said that the main goal was to ensure protection of the rights of Lithuanian nationals in the UK, which is agreed upon by both sides, and expressed his hope that this would ultimately develop into a debate on and understanding of the need for Lithuania to provide for dual citizenship.

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