Legal documents and historic photos spanning the years 1991 through 2013 - from the very first contacts between the re-independent state and the Union to moments of Lithuanian EU Presidency - were accumulated and kept in the archives of the General Secretariat of the EU Council. The package contains the 1991 joint declaration of the Foreign Affairs Council on support to regained independence of the Baltic States and recognition of their statehood, moments from 1994 Lithuania-EU free trade talks led by incumbent President Dalia Grybauskaitė, Lithuania's EU accession agreement signed by Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas.
The preamble of the package runs: "From independence to EU Presidency - this is the path Lithuania has traversed since 1991. Within one generation, Lithuanian citizens' worldview has changed from attitudes predetermined by the soviet objectives to a broader global vision of an EU presiding member state. The archives hold a lot of documents. All of them are important: from a simple communication to a sealed agreement. There are photos and even compact discs. Documents track our country's growth in the European Union, among its equals.
"It is Lithuania's 22-year history witnessing our uneasy yet consistent path towards a democratic, law-abiding and European state. Cooperation between Lithuania and EU is a success story based on respect, mutual assistance and western values," the President said.
The General Secretariat of the EU Council significantly contributed to the successful first presidency of Lithuania. Today, Dalia Grybauskaitė will present to the European Council the results of the first Lithuanian EU Presidency and together with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso will introduce to European journalists decisions important for Europe's future that have been achieved during its presidency.
