According to him, even though provisions of Rail Baltica shareholders' agreement have been harmonised, including the one to include Vilnius in the project, it is necessary to change legislation of the European Commission regarding funding.
"(...). Shareholders cannot solve the funding issue of Vilnius' inclusion in the project. Delegated acts of the EC need to be amended. (...) It cannot be said that funding for Vilnius has been secured. (...) To achieve this, the Government's efforts will be needed, perhaps even of the Governments of all three Baltic States," said the minister at the meeting with President Dalia Grybauskaite.
According to the minister, the nearest term when the EC delegated acts can be reviewed is in 2017. "That time is very near and it suits both the partners and Lithuania," said Sinkevicius.
Nerijus Udrenas, Advisor to the president, noted the significance of the Rail Baltica project and said that inclusion of Lithuania's capital would improve the project's quality.
"The president highlighted that the Rail Baltica project development is crucial to Lithuania and Vilnius' incorporation has to be ensured on the inter-Governmental level. This has to be established in inter-Governmental agreements. It improves the economy of the project – Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania and Rail Baltica must connect all capital cities," Udrenas said.
