Within parliamentary dimension of Lithuanian presidency of the European Union, the meeting of chairpersons of European affairs committees of national parliaments of member states of the European family of peoples – COSAC was held in Vilnius today.

The meeting was opened by the Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament Mr Vidas Gedvilas, who emphasised that it was the first presidency not only of Lithuania but also some of Union’s Baltic countries. Speaker of the Parliament welcomed Croatia as new member of the European Union, stating that it was expected from it to participate actively, with other states, in creation of stronger and more developed Europe. During the continuation of the meeting, the gathering was addressed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Mr Linas Linkevičius who emphasised that Lithuania was ready to coordinate all planned activities, thus the priorities of presidency would be strengthening of the Union as global model of openness and security as well as progress towards a healthier public finances and the implementation of the Pact for Growth and Employment. During the six-month presidency of Lithuania, the focus will be placed on European social policy through the integration of the single market, maintenance of financial stability, economic growth and combating of unemployment.

Mr Jovan Martinović, a member of the Committee on European Integration of the Parliament of Montenegro, participated at the meeting, wishing a success to the Lithuanian officials, and also assessing that Lithuania had in front of itself responsible and challenging task - coordination of decisions important for the 28 countries of the European Union in economically difficult time for Europe. In the following period, the seven-year budget will be adopted, which will define the IPA programme important for Montenegro in terms of the use of pre-accession funds which facilitate the process of political and economic reforms in the accession negotiations to the candidate countries. Under the chairmanship of the priorities of the program "Open Europe", activities are planned for further enlargement, being of particular importance for countries in the accession process, said MP Martinović. In a year of negotiations, Montenegro opened and provisionally closed chapters 25 and 26, and by adoption of action plans for chapters 23 and 24, it made a step closer towards the opening of negotiations for this chapter, thus as a country we proved that we are on the track to achieve high standards of the European Union. Croatia's membership will encourage the region to accelerate the process of European integration, due to the fact that Croatia has become a promoter of the Western Balkans in Brussels, and the European Union proves that the expansion is a successful policies.

A discussion on the future European policy, which would lead to strengthening the political and economic position of the EU, was held at the meeting,  and Vice President and Commissioner for Institutional Relations and Administration of the European Commission Mr Maros Šefčovič took a part in it.