Adopted 251 legislative texts “important for the future of Europe” and made progress on 114 initiatives. An agreement was therefore found on a quantity of legislative texts equal to two and a half times the average of the previous semesters. In essential figures, these are the results achieved by the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union which in the second half of 2013 was led by Lithuania. "My country has successfully fulfilled the task entrusted to it, thus demonstrating that it deserved the trust of Europe", the President of the Republic Dalia Grybauskaité proudly claimed in front of European leaders in Brussels at the end of a grueling semester for members of the government, for a few hundred officials involved and of course for herself.
Dalia Grybauskaité was elected president of Lithuania in 2009 after having been a ministerial official, ambassador, minister and finally, from 2004 (the year of the Baltic country's entry into the European Union) to 2009, head of economic planning and budgeting in the first European Commission led by José Manuel Barroso. Always smiling, this 57-year-old single blonde lady has been described, like Margaret Thatcher and Angela Merkel, as an "iron lady" (and she, in addition, was also a black belt in karate).
Inhabitants of a territory that only became an independent state in 1990 after two centuries of foreign domination (first by Tsarist Russia, then by Nazi Germany, and finally by Soviet Russia), the Lithuanians probably must have developed over time an ability to adapt to particularly difficult situations. Ability which, in all likelihood, has fueled that predisposition to seek mediation which is essential in managing the complex process of forming European laws. And therefore it led to the "performances" underlined by Mrs. Grybauskaité in her assessment of the end of the semester of the European presidency.
“Thanks to our commitment – said the Lithuanian president – essential agreements have been reached to guarantee the financial, economic and energy security of the European Union. And a solid foundation has been laid for continuing to build an open, reliable and growing Europe. Result achieved despite an agenda of more numerous and onerous commitments than in the past due to international crises and Russia's permanent provocations throughout the semester”.
The most complex and most significant result obtained by the Lithuanian presidency, the ministers of the Baltic country said today, was undoubtedly the completion of the negotiations on 59 important programs for the implementation of the EU budget 2014-2020. This means, add the Lithuanian negotiators, that from the first days of January the 28 member states will be able to start using the European funds allocated for the next seven years.
The adoption of the seven-year budget can without a doubt be considered the crown jewel of the current Lithuanian presidency. Suffice it to recall the dramatic days at the end of October characterized by the very tough tug of war between the European Council (where the Member States are represented) and the European Parliament (expression of the will of the citizens) over the 2014 budget. With the latter institution which, in plenary in Strasbourg, he rejected the annual budget and refused to initiate examination of the seven-year budget if the Council had not fattened (not by much, in truth) the balances of both.
It was a dramatic confrontation that ended with a compromise reached also, and perhaps above all, thanks to the mediation skills of the Lithuanian ministers. So that the November plenary session of the European Parliament was able to approve not only the two financial programming documents but also the agricultural policy reform, the new cohesion policy, the Horizon 2020 program for research and innovation, and Erasmus+ (latest edition of what is probably the most successful European programme).
But the role of the Lithuanian presidency in defining open dossiers involved numerous other important issues. Among which in particular those concerning the construction of the future banking union. And then the single mechanism for resolving bank crises (with a slightly too diluted timetable, however) and the directive on the deposit guarantee system.
The Lithuanian presidency has also dedicated a particular effort to the issue of the Eastern Partnership, a strategy which aims to strengthen security east of the borders of the European Union through a set of support initiatives addressed to the buffer countries between the EU and Russia. A strategy aimed initially at Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. But which, on the occasion of the summit held in November in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, recorded some steps forward but also some setbacks (by Belarus, and it was obvious, but also by Ukraine, where the confrontation between pro-Europeans and anti-Europeans is exploding in the squares) which is attributed to not disinterested pressure from Moscow.
Lastly, as regards the issue of liberalization of international trade, the Lithuanian presidency takes note of the free trade agreement concluded between the EU and Canada to its own credit. However, the one started with the United States got bogged down after Snowden's revelations about American espionage. While, as far as China is concerned, at the moment on the European side there is only the approval of a mandate to negotiate forms of protection for European investments. And the dispute with Russia on European exports of cars, commercial vehicles and construction equipment is still open.
