The Lithuanians approve a lot of the possibility of working, traveling freely and studying in all the EU member states and of the economic support provided by the EU, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius stated for IPN when asked to say what arguments the ‘average Lithuanian’ would have in a possible discussion with the ‘average Moldovan’ in favor of the European option after living in a European country for nine years. The answer is available in the interview “Moldova is closer than ever to achieving goal set for Vilnius” that was published on July 1, 2013.
“The same poll of the Eurobarometer, according to which 60% of the Lithuanians are Euro-optimists, showed that the Lithuanians approve most of all in the EU of the possibility of working in all the EU countries and of traveling freely and studying in any country of the EU. Besides, the economic advantages are not less important, especially in agriculture, where the financial resources of the EU represent almost one quarter of all the revenues from agricultural activity. By the way, the structural support of the EU represents about one third of Lithuania’s budget. Over the last six years, Lithuania ‘obtained’ for every litas transferred to the EU budget more than five litai. I think the ‘average Moldovan’, even if Euroskeptic, can also approve of these priorities,” said the Lithuania minister.
He invited the Moldovans to convince themselves of his words. “By the way, it’s better to see once than to hear for about 100 times: it’s enough to visit Lithuania to see how many projects were already implemented and how many different projects are under implementation in the renovation, infrastructure and other spheres, which are aimed at improving the lives of the ordinary people. Most of these projects are partially financed with EU funds,” said the official.
Asked by IPN, Linas Linkevicius shared the experience of his country, which had practically the same starting point as Moldova after the dismemberment of the Soviet Union, but achieved more results on the path to European integration.
“The identical ‘starting positions’ do not determine a similar evolution of the states as the development is always individual. As regards Lithuania, it was very important that the Euro-Atlantic integration became the strategic goal immediately after regaining our independence. We submitted the application for accession in 1995, but the negotiations started in 2000. Our path to accession (starting with May 1, 2004) wasn’t at all simple and sometimes implied great efforts, but not enormous, close cooperation with the EU member states and the European institutions, mutual understanding between the people and politicians, etc. However, the main motive power, I would say was the fact that the people of Lithuania was convinced that our future is only in Europe. This strengthen the political will and joined authorities’ efforts,” stated the Lithuanian foreign minister.
According to him, another key moment is the fact that all the Lithuanian political parties signed agreements on common foreign policy goals such as the European integration for example. There are matters in the life of a state when the political forces must forget about the own interests and about what makes them different and join efforts so as to achieve the country’s strategic goals. In May 2003, when the referendum on Lithuania joining the EU was held, 91.07% of the 63.37% people who took part voted in favor.
“It should be noted that since we joined the EU, the Lithuanians remain the greatest Euro-optimists (about 60% last December). If you set a goal in which you believe, many things become possible. By the way Moldova’s stable and consistent aspirations for European integration represent a steadfast reflection of the same thing. Thus, I would not describe the future in dull colors. The most important is to know what you want to achieve and this goal should consolidate the work of all the strata of society, while the different political forces should make the narrow party interests a second-level matter,” Linas Linkevicius said in the interview for the IPN titled “Moldova is closer than ever to achieving goal set for Vilnius”.
Today, July 1, 2013, Lithuania takes over the presidency of the Council of the European Union.
