The Baltic nation of Lithuania agreed to lift its veto on the launching of a new European Union partnership agreement with Russia, local media reported on Monday, May 12. "Solidarity, demonstrated by the 27 EU nations and the European Commission, is not an empty word," said Lithuanian Foreign Minister Petras Vaitiekunas, according to delfi.lt news portal. Vaitiekunas met in Vilnius on Sunday with three EU foreign ministers: Sweden's Carl Bildt, Poland's Radoslaw Sikorski and Slovenia's Dimitrij Rupel, whose country chairs the EU presidency until June. Vilnius had threatened to veto the opening of talks in protest at Russia's closure - allegedly for technical reasons - of the pipeline feeding Russian oil to Lithuania's only oil refinery. "We have found ways to reflect in the mandate of the talks the issues of the Druzhba pipeline, issues of legal cooperation with Russia, and frozen conflicts," a statement by the four foreign ministers said. "The success of the negotiations with Russia will directly depend on the renewal of supplies via the Druzhba pipeline," Vaitiekunas said.
"Solidarity, demonstrated by the 27 EU nations and the European Commission, is not an empty word," said Lithuanian Foreign Minister Petras Vaitiekunas, according to delfi.lt news portal.
Vaitiekunas met in Vilnius on Sunday with three EU foreign ministers: Sweden's Carl Bildt, Poland's Radoslaw Sikorski and Slovenia's Dimitrij Rupel, whose country chairs the EU presidency until June.
Vilnius had threatened to veto the opening of talks in protest at Russia's closure - allegedly for technical reasons - of the pipeline feeding Russian oil to Lithuania's only oil refinery.
"We have found ways to reflect in the mandate of the talks the issues of the Druzhba pipeline, issues of legal cooperation with Russia, and frozen conflicts," a statement by the four foreign ministers said.
"The success of the negotiations with Russia will directly depend on the renewal of supplies via the Druzhba pipeline," Vaitiekunas said.
VILNIUS, Lithuania: Lithuania has agreed to drop its objections to European Union talks with Russia on a new strategic partnership. Lithuania had previously blocked the negotiations because it first wanted Moscow to improve its ties with immediate neighbors. But Petras Vaitiekunas, the Baltic country's foreign minister, said Sunday that the EU has agreed to include Lithuania's concerns in the mandate for the negotiations planned for next month. His comments came after a meeting with Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency. "After today's negotiations we may say that the EU may rely on Lithuania and your country may rely on the EU," Rupel told reporters in Vilnius. The EU wants a new strategic partnership to redefine the way it imports much of its oil and gas from Russia and to persuade it to open its vast energy sector to investors from western Europe. The new agreement would replace a decade-old deal with Moscow.
VILNIUS, Lithuania: Lithuania has agreed to drop its objections to European Union talks with Russia on a new strategic partnership.
Lithuania had previously blocked the negotiations because it first wanted Moscow to improve its ties with immediate neighbors.
But Petras Vaitiekunas, the Baltic country's foreign minister, said Sunday that the EU has agreed to include Lithuania's concerns in the mandate for the negotiations planned for next month. His comments came after a meeting with Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency.
"After today's negotiations we may say that the EU may rely on Lithuania and your country may rely on the EU," Rupel told reporters in Vilnius.
The EU wants a new strategic partnership to redefine the way it imports much of its oil and gas from Russia and to persuade it to open its vast energy sector to investors from western Europe. The new agreement would replace a decade-old deal with Moscow.
That's the least one should expect given that Lithuania is an EU member state. When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes
