AMBASSADOR JARMOLENKO: LITHUANIA STRONGLY SUPPORTS ROMANIA'S ASPIRATIONS OF JOINING SCHENGEN; CONDITIONS MUST BE PROPERLY FULFILLED
Lithuania strongly supports Bulgaria's and Romania's aspirations of joining Schengen, but underscores that all necessary conditions must be properly fulfilled, Lithuanian Ambassador in Bucharest says on Monday, evoking a quotation of his country's President Dalia Grybauskaite. Jarmolenko made this statement in a press conference in Bucharest, where he presented the priorities of the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union that Lithuania took over starting July 1.
'I have before me the quotation of my President Dalia Grybauskaite: ‘Lithuania strongly supports Bulgaria's and Romania's aspirations, but underscores that all necessary conditions must be properly fulfilled.' This is what diplomacy means. Lithuania has not changed its position concerning the Schengen Area in seven and a half years,' Vladimir Jarmolenko said.
When asked by the media if the authorities of Vilnius believed that Romania fulfilled the necessary conditions for the accession to Schengen, he insisted on making a distinction between Lithuania, as an EU member state, and the Lithuanian Presidency, with the role of mediator among the 28 member states.
'The member state with the name of the Republic of Lithuania is one thing and the Lithuanian Presidency is another. Most member states agreed that Romania and Bulgaria were prepared [for the accession to Schengen]. There are also states that do not agree. According to the principle of the EU (...), we need to reach a common position of all states. We believe, as you do, that we shall manage it. But what we can do is different from what I feel. I am on duty and my President's statement is very clear and I quoted my President,' Vladimir Jarmolenko said.
Romanian Foreign Minister Titus Corlatean, present in the press conference, underscored that the accession to the Schengen Area remained an important objective to Romania and that the authorities of Bucharest counted on an active position of the Lithuanian Presidency of the European Union in obtaining a consensual solution.
