The video conference was attended by the leaders of Lithuania, Sweden, Austria, Poland, Slovenia, and Cyprus in order to prepare for the informal meetings of the European Council and the European Political Community to be held in Prague on 6–7 October, which will focus on Europe’s response to Russia’s war in Ukraine and energy prices.
During the preparatory meeting, President Gitanas Nausėda stressed that as Russia continues to escalate the war in Ukraine, the EU needs unity and coordination with its partners and allies, especially on the issues of sanctions against Russia and support for Ukraine. According to Gitanas Nausėda, Russia’s war crimes, energy and nuclear blackmail only mean that we need to continue to increase our support for Ukraine and tighten sanctions against the aggressor.
The President added that phasing out Russian energy imports was also an issue that required coordination and consensus. Gitanas Nausėda stressed that, with the EU facing record energy prices, solutions must be found at European level to reduce the financial burden of energy prices on citizens and businesses and to ensure the EU’s resilience to Russia’s energy manipulations.
“The specific nature of countries like Lithuania, which import most of their electricity, must be taken into account. If we really want to reduce electricity and gas prices, we need to put a cap on the price of gas at the EU level. We also need to pay more attention to the security of critical infrastructure and consider cooperation between the EU and NATO on this issue,” the President underlined.
