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Agenda item 4 is our final item today. We are absolutely delighted to have here the newly appointed Lithuanian ambassador to the UK, who will have a role in the presidency and can discuss its objectives with us. I am delighted to welcome her excellency, Mrs Asta Skaisgiryte Liauškiene; Sigitas Mitkus, who is minister counsellor and deputy head of mission; and Andrius Nikitinas, commercial attaché for the embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in the United Kingdom. You may wish to make an opening statement, your excellency, and we will then have questions from committee members. The floor is yours.
Good morning, everybody—convener and members of the committee. It is such a pleasure to be here in the Scottish Parliament and to have this opportunity to meet you. I am grateful to have this occasion to give a brief overview of the priorities of the Lithuanian European Union presidency.
On 1 July this year, Lithuania assumed the EU presidency for the first time. Lithuania has been in the European Union for nine years, and this is the first time that we have assumed the role—it is the first time that any of the Baltic countries has done so. The other two Baltic countries, Latvia and Estonia, will have the role in 2015 and 2018 respectively.
Before I start talking about Europe, I will say a few words about my country, Lithuania. We have successfully overcome the recent economic and financial crisis, and we are returning to sustainable recovery and growth. We are comfortable, economically and financially, in assuming the presidency, as we do not have any internal agenda or internal issues to be solved. We can therefore focus on the EU agenda. The GDP of Lithuania is now growing at a steady rate of about 3 per cent. We have significant growth in foreign direct investment, at a rate of 20 per cent per year. Economically, things are okay.
Lithuania being a small country, we come to the presidency as an honest broker. For us, the success of the presidency lies in a good compromise for all 28 countries. We know that compromises are difficult to reach, but we also know that all European decisions are the fruit of one or another compromise. That is the Lithuanian understanding of the presidency.
The European Union is moving towards recovery and closer co-operation between member states and the European institutions. We believe that co-operation between the European institutions—the European Parliament, the Commission and the European Council—is needed more than ever. Only when those three institutions are functioning effectively can we achieve good results.
The Lithuanian presidency motto is a credible, growing and open Europe. Why is that? The EU should demonstrate that it is pursuing credible financial and economic policies. It should be committed to growth and jobs, and it should be open to partners. I will speak a little bit about all and each of those priorities.
On sustainable finance, we are working on further banking union. The Commission has made a proposal on the single resolution mechanism and we will ensure that there is discussion of that at European level. We do not think that an agreement will be reached by the end of our presidency, but it might be that some agreement could be reached before the European Parliament elections in 2014.
On better economic governance, we speak about creating a favourable environment for the implementation of key social and economic reforms at EU level. That includes smooth and effective implementation of the newly agreed rules for the so-called ex ante budgetary monitoring process for member states in the euro area. The euro area is important, because it affects both euro zone members and non-euro zone members.
Lithuania seeks to ensure the smooth application of provisions contained in the stability and growth pact. We dedicate our attention to the process of transposition of the treaty on stability, co-ordination and governance into national systems, which is being done in each member country.
On financial interests, one aspect is the fight against tax fraud. In the field of combating tax fraud and tax evasion, special focus is being placed on expanding the automatic exchange of tax information both among EU member countries and between the EU and third countries.
An important point is the credibility of Europe for its citizens. As you all know, 2013 is the European year of citizens. That means that we need to raise awareness and knowledge of the rights and duties related to EU citizenship, so that EU citizens can fully exercise their rights to move and settle down freely within the EU, as well as benefit from the other opportunities. Currently, more than 2 million EU citizens who are not UK citizens reside in the UK. That fact is worth bearing in mind in preparing for next year’s European Parliament elections and local elections—EU citizens can also vote in local elections.
On the EU budget and growth, you will know that the principal agreement on the multi-annual financial framework was reached with the European Parliament in June this year. Although that decision has been made, before the MFF can be adopted on 1 January 2014 we need to implement and finalise a legislative package of 75 implementing acts. That is quite important and needs to be done rather quickly before the end of the year. The Lithuanian presidency will also adopt the first annual EU budget, which will be a one-year budget for 2014. That budget will be a starting point for the implementation of new EU programmes.
The important thing for tackling unemployment is the effective implementation of the compact for growth and jobs. In that context, we are focused on the implementation of the so-called European youth guarantee and the operation of the youth employment initiative. That should be ready by 2014, so we are in the preparatory stages. We are also initiating discussions and preparing Council declarations on the European alliance for apprenticeships, which is a new thing. We believe that, as that initiative aims to improve the quality and supply of apprenticeships across the EU, it will be rather important in tackling youth unemployment in particular.
10:45Lithuania is very much a digital country and e-government is one of our favourite things, so of course the digital agenda is a high priority. We speak about the establishment of a single EU digital market, and within that market we have such initiatives as electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions. Those two things are important for the good functioning of our digital single market.
In implementing the EU single market for growth, what is important is the implementation of adopted measures on the functioning of the internal market, especially the services directive. There must also be progress in the discussions on the so-called Single Market Act I and Single Market Act II.
Lithuania is focused on energy security, so energy issues are also high on the agenda and I will mention two things with regard to energy. One is the internal energy market. Within the single market we do not yet have a single energy market. The target is to create an internal energy market by 2014 and to have the interconnection of electricity grids around Europe, but we are still working on that objective.
The second thing that is important is our energy policy towards third countries—whether when we purchase energy from a third country we apply the same rules for all EU member states or different rules. At the moment, the situation is that different rules are applied, and we want to homogenise more.
I have a few more brief points. There is a move towards macroregional strategies within the European Union. As you may know, the Baltic Sea region strategy was the first macroregional strategy, followed by the so-called Danube strategy. We believe that the Baltic Sea region strategy functions well. One of the important aspects is that all member states participate in the strategy, not only those bordering the Baltic Sea, and that is the strength of the strategy, which is effective. We will be hosting a huge conference to review the strategy and to discuss further implementation during the next financial perspective.
Lithuania has taken up all the foreign policy issues that are on the agenda. We have spoken about Syria. On 1 July, the first day of our presidency, we had the Egypt crisis with President Morsi—there is never a dull moment in foreign policy. We also have a long-term perspective and we pay attention to our eastern neighbours. As you know, the European Union has two focuses—southern neighbours and eastern neighbours—and although most of the conflicts are going on in the southern neighbourhood and we are always working on that, we should not forget the eastern neighbourhood. There are no conflicts in the eastern neighbourhood, but it is still in the interests of the whole European Union to have a stable, democratic, free trade area in the eastern neighbourhood. The idea is to have an eastern partnership summit in late November this year, and possibly get signatures on some important agreements with the Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia on free trade.
Turning to the EU enlargement process, we have started our presidency with one more member. As you know, Croatia has joined the European Union, so we are now 28 countries. There are also discussions on the table with the western Balkan countries; they are at different stages but the process is continuing. We do not think that concrete agreements will be signed during our presidency, but progress should be made with each of those Balkan countries.
In relation to our strategic partners, we are happy that during our presidency the negotiations on the free trade and investment agreement with the United States took place. The negotiations started on the so-called TTIP—the transatlantic trade and investment partnership—and the political will is strong to have an agreement reached by the end of next year. It is an ambitious agreement, so our negotiators will have to work hard. We also have in mind the start of free trade negotiations with Japan, which is another important trading partner for the European Union.
That is the position in a nutshell, so I shall stop there. I would very much appreciate your comments and I am happy to answer your questions. Thank you for your attention.
Thank you for your comprehensive and detailed submission, which will have engendered lots of questions.
What are your thoughts on being the first Baltic state to take on the presidency? What does that mean for you, how has it impacted on and improved your relationship with other member states and more widely, and how did you manage it as such a small country with a population of only 3 million? In Scotland, we are always told that we are a bit wee, so we would love to learn some lessons about how you have managed to get as far as you have and be so successful in doing so.
Lithuania is small, with a population of 3 million people. We say that it is small but sound. We like to work efficiently and that is how we have tried to run our presidency. The presidency has rather a low budget, because we cannot afford a big budget, but the presidency has sponsors and supporters from other sectors of society, from non-governmental organisations and from not only Lithuanian but European businesses, so we find ourselves in a rather comfortable situation.
It is the first time that we have assumed the presidency. When Lithuania joined the European Union, nine years ago, we said to ourselves and to our European partners, “We are coming to contribute, not to take something.” We like to think that our contribution benefits the European idea. For us, joining the European Union was first of all a political issue. During the years of Soviet occupation we believed that we were unjustifiably separated from the European family, so by joining the European Union we were returning to the European family of nations. That was the main reason why support for the European Union was high in Lithuania. On the day of accession we had a referendum and 75 per cent of Lithuanians pronounced for the European Union. Today, support is not that high, but 60 per cent of our population is still for the European Union, which is quite high in the overall picture of EU member states. We believe that we can be an honest broker in the European discussions.
Sometimes the best things come in smaller packages.
Exactly.
I see that the main aims of the Ireland-Lithuania-Greece troika over 18 months are to stimulate growth, create jobs and boost EU competitiveness. I am interested in the ways in which you think EU competitiveness can be achieved and in what the Lithuanian presidency thinks is the greatest problem facing the European Union generally.
Those are two good questions. We could elaborate on them for half a day.
We have a problem with the global competitiveness of the European Union. There are new, emerging markets, such as Brazil, Russia, India and China—the so-called BRIC countries—which are doing well and have been doing well during the global economic recession. In that context, we have to work harder to compete. That also means that the EU must have more coherence, not less. We must not look to our own nationalist interests but, on the contrary, work more together.
I spoke about the financial instruments. That is part of our job. It is not the euro as a currency, but Government policies and the lack of a mechanism to supervise the budgets of the separate member states that are responsible for the euro zone crisis. We learned that only when we got into trouble, so let us learn the lessons from those troubles and improve our legislation so that we avoid such a crisis in the future.
In our opinion, it will boost European competitiveness if we stick together as an entity. We are stronger as one than as 28 different countries.
Good morning. We are pleased to have you at the committee, Ambassador Liauškiene. I want to ask you about youth unemployment, which you mentioned in your opening statement. You have already given us a lot of detail on the youth guarantee initiative and the apprenticeship programme, so I will ask you about the employability skills of the youth of Europe.
We like to pride ourselves on welcoming our European neighbours to Scotland and we have a strong Lithuanian community here, but we are not good at sending our students out to study on Erasmus exchanges. Do you have any ideas on how we could build on that cohesion across the distance between our two nations?
Unemployment is indeed an important topic. In all recessions, we have huge unemployment. That is the general rule from the textbooks.
Average EU unemployment is at about 10 per cent, but average youth unemployment is at 20 per cent, and in some member countries it even reaches 50 per cent, which is very high. The Governments must carefully consider how to encourage business and encourage job creation in private businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises. The EU programmes are aimed at encouraging the creation of jobs in the private sector first of all, which is not much in evidence when there is a recession.
There is a special emphasis on youth unemployment. Perhaps you have heard that there was a summit in Berlin in June at which the heads of state and Government decided on some concrete measures such as providing €6 billion for a specific youth employment programme. The initiative and the apprenticeships that I mentioned go on the same line, of course.
You mentioned exchanges of university students. Nowadays, students have a fantastic opportunity to move around the European Union. I say “fantastic” because I know what it looked like when there was an iron curtain. As a student in Lithuania, I had absolutely no opportunity to go to the other side of the iron curtain. I have deep respect for my alma mater, which is Vilnius University, but I envied those young people who could travel around, experience different cultures and systems and get to know the world. Today, that possibility is assured and the Erasmus programme functions well.
Lithuania has 22 universities in all, and they are all open to foreign students. We have quite a lot of programmes in English, mainly for foreign students, and we are lucky to have them. Among them are students from Britain. That functions both ways, and it functions pretty well. I have no complaints on behalf of my Ministry of Education and Science about any problems with student exchanges. On the contrary—the ministry is very happy to have them.
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I think that it is a Scottish and UK problem, in that we perhaps do not go out as much.
The Scottish higher education system has a very attractive point that cannot be neglected. You tend to have more foreign students than elsewhere, naturally.
You mentioned the European Union’s foreign policy. I always think of European foreign policy as being like having an actor on stage with a Greek chorus of 28 other actors, any of whom can contradict what is happening at any time. What challenges do you see ahead in working with the European External Action Service and the Commission on foreign policy?
The External Action Service started to function just a few years ago, so we and the European diplomatic service are still on a pretty new path. There are different opinions about how efficient the service is and how good or bad it is, but we are happy to have it. I will explain why. Lithuania is a small country with a small diplomacy. We have 40 bilateral embassies around the world and the majority—27—are in the other EU member states. Aside from those, the rest are in third countries. For us, to have a European External Action Service is a continuation of our diplomacy. We receive information from the service and we are happy about it. In shaping our foreign policy towards third countries, we rely on the EEAS’s expertise and know-how.
A further positive point is on consular assistance. When there are crises around the world, who will take care of our citizens? Say for example that there is a crisis in an African country. We have one embassy on the whole of the African continent, in Cairo, and in all other African countries we depend on the representation of the European External Action Service. That is a practical aspect. We receive good services from the EEAS. There are perhaps some aspects where it could function more effectively, but we are just at the beginning. Our criticism has always been constructive. If we are not happy about something, let us suggest how it could be done better, rather than just criticising for criticism’s sake.
Good morning, ambassador. You are very welcome. Congratulations on the Lithuanian presidency.
I was impressed by your comment that Lithuania comes to contribute to Europe, not to take from it. It would be appreciated if other member states had the same point of view as Lithuania. I sometimes think that people believe that their role in Europe is to take from it rather than to give to it. I was impressed to hear that support for membership was at 75 per cent in the referendum, and that it is still quite high now, at 60 per cent. What approach do the media in Lithuania take to European issues? Is coverage positive and supportive, or is it critical?
In more or less all countries, the media tend to reflect public opinion. Like you, we have a range that includes more serious media and tabloid media. The opinion of the EU among the general public is pretty high, so the media’s opinion is also high.
The media tend to notice positive things when they happen at a European Union level. For instance, if a new road is built in a small town and it is mentioned that European structural funds were used for it in such a way that half of the finance was from the Lithuanian Government and half from the European Union, the media reflects that fact and will be positive—it is something that we should be happy about and not something that we should complain about.
That is encouraging. Perhaps there are some lessons there for the UK media regarding their relations with Europe.
My next question is about the Lithuanian programme for your six-month presidency. We see some common strands among the priorities and other issues that you have mentioned, which are shared throughout Europe. What is in the programme specifically for Lithuania? What are your priorities as a country, as opposed to the shared priorities of Europe?
I have said that we come to the presidency as an honest broker. That means that, for this half-year, we put our national interest aside and prioritise the European Union’s interests. That is the approach. Of course we have our areas of concern, which I have mentioned, but those are not only our national concerns; they are European concerns. They include energy policy and the eastern partnership. Those two things very much coincide with our national interest. However, our national interest is a bit to one side, at least for six months.
You mentioned that you are a very digital, e-enabled country. At what level is broadband infrastructure throughout Lithuania? Is it pretty good or is there a lot of work still to do?
Our broadband speed is number 1 or 2 in the world—it depends on whether we measure the incoming or outgoing speed.
For upload it is number 1; for download it is number 2.
If you understand what that means—I always mix up the terms. We have 4G already. Come to Lithuania with your tablets and see how it functions.
I look forward to that.
We are still battling with dial-up in some cases.
Good morning, ambassador. You mentioned that EU citizens who are resident in the UK have the right to vote in local elections. We will have a rather important referendum in September next year, in which EU citizens who are resident in Scotland will have the opportunity to vote. Does the presidency have a view on encouraging participation in that referendum?
The presidency has an incentive to encourage participation in European Parliament elections. That is our main concern. There tends to be lower participation in European Parliament elections compared with national elections.
You did not quite answer the other point. I appreciate that your main concern is the European parliamentary elections, but is the presidency studiously avoiding making any comment in relation to Scotland’s referendum in September next year?
It is your internal affair. Lithuania—not as the holder of the presidency, but as a country—will respect the will of your people in the referendum, whatever it is.
Can you outline anything in relation to the EU position regarding the climate change conference in Warsaw?
All the recent climate change conferences have been difficult. They have been charged with ideas, but few results have been achieved. We will have to work for a result, of course, but it would be premature to say that we will achieve a breakthrough on all our questions. The European Union is only one player in the conference and there are other important players who perhaps have greater problems than we do, so there will be multilateral negotiations, which are always a great mess. We will do our best, but I would not say that we will achieve important results.
How difficult is it to reach a common European Union view?
It is always good to achieve a common European Union view. In the forthcoming conference, I think that we will achieve something. The problem will be not within the EU, but with the third countries.
Good morning, ambassador. Throughout Europe, one of the biggest challenges that we face is energy, which you mentioned, and energy security in particular. In many countries across Europe there has been great movement because of the cost of energy to citizens. For example, I think that it was earlier this year that the Bulgarian Government was brought down as a consequence of the huge energy costs in that country.
Will you comment on energy security in Europe and also talk about how we might bring down energy costs? The matter is close to the hearts of all members of the Scottish Parliament.
Energy costs are always linked to the purchase of energy from the third countries and the technologies that we apply to produce energy—those are the two main factors. Green technologies are important in the overall picture, but they are expensive. Green is green, but when it comes to costs it is not the cheapest energy, as we know.
Across Europe, almost all countries are searching for shale gas, and when we find it the picture changes, as do the prices. Again, however, the technologies are neither simple nor cheap. Purchase from third countries is an important issue, because traditional energy exporters such as the middle east countries and Russia tell us their price and the question is whether we can negotiate on that or must take it or leave it, which can sometimes be painful.
On the overall picture on energy security, we speak about a specific relationship with the third countries: there should be European agreement to negotiate the energy price with the third countries on certain terms. We have concrete examples of a third country selling energy to one European Union state at one price and a different European Union state at another price. Why is there a difference in price? Sometimes the issue is political and not economic. To avoid the political aspect—energy is always a mix of politics and economy—we have to work hard at consolidating European Union legislation on the matter.
Perhaps you are aware that the Scottish coal industry has suffered as a result of cheap coal imports from Russia. That relates to your comments about the price at which energy is sold. We have been extremely concerned about the matter and the minister, Fergus Ewing, has been working hard with other politicians in the Scottish Parliament. My area is badly affected by the problem, as are Ayrshire and other parts of Scotland. It is a big issue for us in Scotland.
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I understand that the issue falls within our trade policy—in this case, our trade policy with Russia on Russian coal. In dealing with third countries, the European Union tends to take a liberal approach. We have signed free-trade agreements with countries that are interested in free trade. Russia is a member of the World Trade Organization and we trade with Russia on those terms. A certain level of tariffs remains. The tariffs are there to protect the local producers. Although the free market has a positive side, it also has a negative side.
Thank you very much.
After the meeting, the Parliament’s photographer will take some photographs, if you do not mind.
I have a quick final question, which looks forward to the future and your handover to Greece. Earlier in the meeting, I raised some concerns about social cohesion in Greece and the civil unrest there; it is almost the case that the sinister organisations that have sprung up are assassinating people. That has impacted on the country’s ability to recover. Solving some of the social unrest could allow economic growth to return. Do you have any plans to look at that as part of the handover and to offer support?
Our plan is to do as much work as possible until the end of the year. Why? Because some other factors will come into the picture. For example, the European Parliament elections will take place next year, which means that, after the new year, the European parliamentarians will be more interested in their own election campaigns than in tackling some pending issues. In addition, the present European Commission will come to an end soon and there will be a new Commission by the summer of next year. That means that the commissioners are tending to wind up their work, rather than leaving it to the last minute.
As we understand it, the period until the end of the year will still be productive, but the next half-year will be less productive because of factors that we can do nothing about. The idea is to do as much as possible in the present half-year. We are working in partnership with Greece and we have offered to help by chairing some working groups or whatever it needs. We will be there for Greece.
We have exhausted our questions for you. It is my great pleasure to thank you on behalf of the committee for your evidence. We said that we would take an overview, but I think that we have drilled down into some of the detail on many issues. We are extremely grateful for that, because it will help to inform our work.
The committee wishes you all the best with your presidency. We are looking on at another small European nation succeeding. I hope that Scotland will learn some lessons from the fact that small countries can sometimes punch well above their weight. We wish you well.
On behalf of my small delegation, I would like to say how much I appreciated the opportunity to speak at the meeting. Thank you for your smart questions. I hope that we can continue the discussion on all European Union matters in the future. The embassy is open to you. When you are in London, please do not forget to visit us. The address is Lithuania House, 2 Bessborough Gardens, and I will be very glad to host you at my embassy.
I would like to present the convener with a small token of the Lithuanian presidency—a scarf for ladies in the Lithuanian presidency colours.
Wonderful!
Our next meeting will be on 31 October—do not come in fancy dress, please—when we will discuss the budget with the Croatian ambassador. I thank everyone for their attendance.
Meeting closed at 11:19.Previous
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