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After the meeting, Asta Skaisgirytė, Senior Advisor to the President and Head of the Foreign Policy Group, Gabrielius Landsbergis, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Žygimantas Pavilionis, Head of the Seimas Foreign Relations Committee, commented on the meeting.
Awaiting the EC decision on Astravo
The meeting focused on the situation in Belarus. One of the most pressing problems was the purchase of electricity at the Astravo nuclear power plant. The presidency takes the position that Lithuania should not buy this electricity.
A swift decision and proposal from the European Commission (EC) is also expected.
“The issue is included in the government’s program, it is being discussed among European leaders, at the European level. The last reading took place at the December European Council in Brussels, where the president raised the issue.
It’s good that Astravas’ security has become more than just a headache for Lithuania. This is a pan-European problem. All EU leaders agree that the EC should now consider the legal aspects of not allowing Belarusian energy. If Lithuania does not support it, it does not mean that it will not go through other countries. We need to ensure that an EU-wide solution is found.
We hope that in the near future the EC will present the parameters of the analysis and suggestions on what to do about it, ”A. Skaisgirytė told reporters at the conference.
According to the president’s adviser, it is proposed to re-prepare Lithuania’s long-term strategy for Belarus.
“There was a more in-depth discussion on the issue of Belarus, the long-term interests of Lithuania in relations with this country are very important to us. The experts who participated in the debate shared their views, agreed that support for Belarusian civil society and democratic processes is very important and they came back to the idea that it is necessary to prepare a long-term Lithuanian strategy on Belarus, ”said A. Skaisgirytė after the meeting.
Plans to expand blacklists
The meeting also discussed subsidies for companies planning to organize concerts of Filip Kirkorov and Mikhail Shufutinsky. Foreign Minister G. Landsbergis says he has already formed a working group that will decide whether the so-called blacklists should be extended and who can enter Lithuania more clearly.
According to the minister, people’s musical tastes can differ, so a legal basis is important for blacklists.
“Yesterday we brought together a group of people in the ministry to evaluate such opportunities from a legal point of view,” said G. Lansdbergis.
The head of the Seimas Foreign Affairs Commission also supported the idea of expanding the blacklists. In his opinion, the so-called soft propaganda is no less dangerous.
“It just came to our notice then. We will not accept harsh threats, hopefully. It is the mild threats that are the most dangerous and we must respond. We suggested adding criteria to include these actors, but we did little to persuade the Government.
A meeting will start in the near future, where we will talk very seriously with all the institutions about how to create a certain system, how to respond to such cases and how to help systems avoid them in the future ”, Ž. Pavilion.
First date
This was the first meeting of the Council for the Coordination of Foreign Policy. It focused on the situation in Belarus, 2021. Issues of national security, NATO, EU, Eastern Partnership, Astrava nuclear power plant threat management program were discussed.
According to the president’s adviser A. Skaisgirytė, the president plans to hold such meetings more frequently in order to achieve a “foreign policy that protects the interests of Lithuania and is based on a national consensus”.
To do this, it proposes to strengthen coordination, joint work and the discussion of positions of the institutions that operate in the field of foreign policy. On that occasion, he called an informal Foreign Policy Coordination Council, where both politicians and experts discuss foreign policy issues, ”said the President’s Counselor.
President of the Seimas Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielius Landsbergis, Head of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the Seimas Žygimantas Pavilionis, Head of the European Affairs Commission of the Seimas Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė, Director of the Center for Eastern European Studies by Vinas L, Dean of the Faculty of Political Science and Diplomacy at VMU Šarūnas Liekis.
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