Julius Sabatauskas, Chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs, welcomed the guests and gladly noticed that the visit of the Minister almost coincided with the official visit of another distinguished guest from Luxembourg, i.e. Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, on 25–27 October 2017. The Chair of the Committee emphasized that both visits were essential in enhancing bilateral relations. The Chair of the Committee also noted the rapidly growing defence cooperation between Lithuania and Luxembourg in recent years and underlined that Lithuania was grateful to Luxembourg for its solidarity and contribution to the security of the region.
The Minister of Justice of Luxembourg was of the opinion that Lithuania and Luxembourg had a distinct histories and different roads to independence, however; today the two small EU states could easily find common ground and very often shared the same position in EU institutions on matters of importance. This was particularly true in terms of decisions in the area of justice. In this context, members of the Committee on Legal Affairs and their guests from Luxembourg discussed the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and exchanged their opinions on closer cooperation between national parliaments and the European Parliament in carrying out the parliamentary control of Europol and also on more active involvement of national parliaments in EU decision-making as early as in the stage of consideration.
The meeting also discussed the process of Lithuania’s accession to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Julius Sabatauskas briefed the guests on the legislation adopted by the Seimas this year with a view to Lithuania’s membership of the OECD. Félix Braz, in turn, congratulated Lithuania for its progress and expressed his belief that Lithuania should not face any obstacles to its accession at the estimated time.
Finally, dual citizenship was also an important item on the agenda of the meeting. Stasys Šedbaras, Deputy Chair of the Committee on Legal Affairs, said that this was among the most relevant and critical matters for Lithuanian citizens and that Lithuania was currently looking for the most acceptable and fair ways to resolve it.
