Economics, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Lithuania

On Thursday, Prime Minister Kubilius attended the informal session of the European Council that was for the first time, chaired by President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy.

Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius called the informal session successful, as the countries of the European Union have shown solidarity towards the crisis-stricken Greece, writes LETA/ELTA.

Representing Lithuania's position on the "EU 2020 Strategy" document in Brussels, Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius stressed the need to establish control safeguards and mechanisms to protect the European Union states from the Greece-like situation.

According to the prime minister's adviser, Lithuania is in favour of stronger coordination of the EU economic policies and approves of the document, however, he points out that the creation of a common energy market and development of energetic connections should be one of the key tasks of the "EU 2020 Strategy".

"Strong political commitment is necessary for successful implementation of the "EU 2020 Strategy". In Lithuania's opinion, it is vital to link the objectives of the "EU 2020 Strategy" to the priorities of the EU budget. The implementation of the "EU 2020 Strategy" will depend on whether the synergy of national sectorial policies and various financial instruments will be ensured," said Kubilius.

After the session was over, President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy noted with satisfaction that such informal sessions are very useful and necessary; however, in the future they should be devoted to one particular topic in order to receive many different opinions and thus adopt qualitative decisions.

On Thursday, at the extraordinary EU summit in Brussels, Lithuanian Prime Minister Kubilius announced that current Greece's financial problems might reduce the access of other European countries to the loan services of the global private capital market.

At the same time he urged the EU leaders to provide Athens necessary financial assistance.

"We cannot just sit and do nothing, while the crisis is increasing," said Kubilius. The head of the Lithuanian Government noted that Vilnius intend to join the eurozone in 2014.

It appeared that the EU financial assistance programme for Greece is being prepared and all member states will have to participate in it without exception. The list of contributions for all EU member states has already been drawn. For example, British contribution to the fund should amount to 5 billion dollars.