The President and the Prime Minister discussed issues to be addressed at the NATO summit and the European Council later this week.
“We have agreed that NATO must strengthen its eastern flank by placing a stronger emphasis on air defense and that EU member states must increase their defense budgets to be prepared to counter any threat. I have also stressed that we must grant an EU candidate status to Ukraine as soon as possible,” the President said after the meeting.
Gitanas Nausėda and the Prime Minister of the Netherlands also discussed the need for and the possibilities of providing assistance to Ukraine, including air defense systems, as well as the international community’s possibilities to secure humanitarian corridors in Ukraine. The President and the Prime Minister agreed that it was necessary to ensure the EU’s independence from Russia’s energy resources as soon as possible and to demand that Russian troops withdraw from the nuclear power plants they had seized and that the safety of these nuclear power plants be guaranteed by international organizations responsible for nuclear safety.
The meeting also addressed further tightening of sanctions against Russia: the isolation of the aggressor in all sectors and international organizations, the isolation of Russian and Belarusian financial institutions from the SWIFT system and the closure of seaports.
Gitanas Nausėda thanked the Prime Minister of the Netherlands for solidarity and assistance in strengthening the security of Lithuania and the Baltic region: for support to Ukraine and the strengthening of NATO’s eastern flank, for the country’s troops in the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battle Group in Lithuania and for the support provided during the migration crisis.
The President said at the meeting that the Netherlands was one of Lithuania’s most important and largest economic partners and invited companies leaving Russia to set up and continue their activities in our country.
