EU leaders welcomed the agreement reached to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent before 2030 and discussed political guidelines for achieving this target. For Lithuania, it is important that legal regulation on sharing commitments and achieving the EU objective is based on principles of fairness and solidarity as well as national specificities of the Member States.
According to the President, the implementation of climate change targets must be ambitious, balanced, and taking into consideration national circumstances. “For Lithuania, it is very important to use the criterion that is in line with its interests: to share the commitments based on GDP per capita in current prices," the President said.
Gitanas Nausėda urged the Council and the Commission to present a legislative package accompanied by an in-depth environmental, economic and social impact assessment soon. He stressed the need to strengthen EU-wide sectoral measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The President welcomed the renewed commitment of the U.S. to the Paris Agreement and expressed his optimistic expectation regarding the future outcomes of the upcoming COP26 climate summit in Glasgow.
The European Council also discussed measures to combat the pandemic, with a particular focus on ensuring vaccine production and supply, introducing a digital Covid 19 certificate, and supporting third countries.
“The figures provided by the European Commission on the supply of vaccines are very optimistic: by the end of June, Lithuania will receive an additional 1.3 million doses, reaching 3 million, the exact quantity needed to vaccinate 70 percent of Lithuania’s adult population,” the President said.
Gitanas Nausėda stressed that, in the context of accelerating vaccine production and supply in the EU, it is essential to use vaccine-sharing mechanism to provide the necessary assistance to our partners, especially in the Eastern Neighborhood of the EU.
