EU – Baltic States, Integration, Legislation, Lithuania

Iceland's Alting. Photo: president.lt

The discussion in the meeting with the Parliamentary Speaker focused on Lithuanian-Icelandic interparliamentary relations, cooperation between the Nordic and Baltic countries, and experience of the two countries in overcoming effects of the economic crisis.

In the meeting in Alting and later in the round-table discussion, Iceland's politicians, members of the academic community of the University of Bifröst, representatives of non-governmental organizations and various social groups were greatly interested in Lithuania's experiences and benefits of its membership in the EU. Participants of the discussion moderated by Thora Arnorsdottir, Iceland's famous journalist, daughter of Lithuania's Honorary Consul Arnor Hannibalsson, were eager to hear the opinion of Lithuania's President as a former EU Commissioner on various European policies. According to them, it is important for Iceland to hear about Lithuania's eurointegration experience.

The President of Lithuania underlined that membership in the European Union was a national interest of Lithuania. According to the President, accession to the EU was important for Lithuania not only because it brought economic benefit through large structural support aimed to promote the development of the country, but also because during the period of negotiations for the EU membership Lithuania had to transpose the European law in its national legal system, which called for fundamental internal reforms, which benefitted people of the country first of all.

"Membership in the European Union brought huge political, economic and structural benefit. We are now a member of an important international economic and political structure and our voice is heard when it comes to addressing most important international issues. This provides vast opportunities to better defend Lithuania's and its people's interests at the European level," the President said.

According to the President, Lithuania supports Iceland's European choice. "It would be symbolic if the Icelandic people spoke out in a referendum for the accession to the EU: Iceland was the first country to recognize Lithuania's independence and it would join the EU during Lithuania's Presidency in 2013," the President said.

The President also underlined that Iceland's membership in the European Union would be important and useful to Lithuania as it seeks to enhance the role of the Nordic-Baltic region in Europe. According to the President, the more Nordic and Baltic states are members of the EU, the more mobilized are their efforts to defend common interests in Europe and the rest of the world.