Skip to player
Skip to main content
Skip to footer
Search
Connect
Watch fullscreen
Like
Comments
Bookmark
Share
Add to Playlist
Report
Lithuania pleas for EU funds as it bears brunt of Russia’s war
euronews (in English)
Follow
10/10/2024
Brussels shouldn’t forget its border regions as it revamps its trillion-euro budget, the finance ministry's Mindaugas Liutvinskas told Euronews – as he urges EU counterparts to seize Russian assets and issue eurobonds.
Category
🗞
News
Transcript
Display full video transcript
00:00
cohesion policy has to maintain focus because that's
00:03
the one most effective long-term investment instrument that the
00:08
European Union has
00:09
and over decades it has shown its efficiency and
00:14
the value added it brings. So just to give you a few numbers, last year
00:17
we stood at virtually zero in terms of real GDP growth which was
00:21
not too good but not too bad also given the shocks that we are
00:25
facing
00:26
and this year we're coming back to growth. We're growing at about
00:29
2.3% in real terms, this to be strengthened further
00:33
next year closer to 3%. So you know the economy is pretty resilient
00:37
but doesn't mean that the challenges are not there. Of course we are still
00:41
receiving inward FDI but not at the scale
00:44
as it could have been without the war so to say. So the trend is a
00:48
bit different.
00:49
Then you need maybe public instruments to fill the void
00:52
and if you look at the macro numbers our exports
00:55
nosedived in last year so we had negative export growth
01:00
which is not good news for a small open economy as Lithuania
01:03
and now the big chunk of that decrease in exports came from
01:07
re-exports that is basically taking goods from Western Europe and bringing
01:11
them to Eastern markets which were
01:13
either lost or sanctioned. I guess the best strategy
01:17
how to reassure especially foreign investors is
01:21
to treat our own security in a very serious manner which we do
01:24
to increase our defense spending to make sure that we are ready to defend
01:28
if any need arises because then you have a safe environment
01:32
in which the investors can come. There's no question about that. Even when war
01:35
ends at some point we will still be living
01:39
close to Russian Belarus so that's basically the aggressor country so the
01:41
regions will still be bordering them and the problematics will remain in terms of
01:45
their hampered economic and social convergence and we need some European
01:48
instruments
01:49
primarily cohesion policy to actually deal with it. To try to mitigate these
01:53
effects to
01:54
to help promote investment, to help promote businesses, to ensure
01:58
talent attraction so that people could come and stay in those regions
02:01
to ensure their economic viability. You have to invest more money
02:04
into interconnections, cross-border interconnections between countries so
02:09
basically
02:10
getting us more integrated by both hard and digital infrastructure
02:13
within the single market. You have to invest into
02:16
resilience of supply chains and the resilience of value chains which
02:20
basically means
02:21
getting more deeply involved and integrated into the single market
02:25
fostering economic connections with the democratic
02:28
trustable governments in Europe and beyond. And then I think
02:32
also where European funds and cohesion policy can play a role
02:36
is providing additional impetus on innovation financing so that our
02:39
economies would move
02:40
to higher value added which would then also increase their resilience and
02:44
reduce maybe
02:45
vulnerabilities to future shocks.
02:48
So I guess you know these are big things, structural things
02:52
not just easy to fix but I guess this is the direction where cohesion policy
02:55
should be going. One of the issues that's been raised by some people is that
02:59
there could be new financing revenue generation instruments
03:02
in support of EU defence and in support of Ukraine
03:06
you know, there's talk of euro bonds for kind of defence capacity and so on.
03:10
Do you think that's a plausible outcome? We would be open to explore possibilities
03:15
for
03:16
ad hoc potential borrowing instruments
03:19
at the EU level to help you know find additional resources maybe in a more
03:24
timely manner
03:24
not to wait just for the next MFF which will take a while to negotiate, take a
03:28
while to kick in in practice.
03:29
So we're open and we've been raising the issue
03:33
in the European formats for some time now.
03:36
Let's see how it goes but you know I feel that if there is
03:40
a place where countries could and should shift the red lines
03:43
that is defence because that's a common thing for all of us. We have
03:46
very good economic cooperation with Germany and increasing military
03:50
cooperation links so I think it's a matter of dialogue and a bit of
03:54
matter of time for them to understand
03:56
for all the European partners to understand our complexities and
03:59
where we are in the region. I wouldn't support I guess the discussion
04:04
going into the direction of making cohesion policy more rigid
04:07
less flexible and less adaptive. I guess that's not the way we should go.
04:11
We should maintain the flexibility, the adaptability because
04:14
that is part of the success of this cohesion policy.
04:17
The financing gap for Ukraine is increasing for next year and
04:21
Europe has a responsibility to help Ukraine
04:24
so that it would have enough funding to keep the economy going, to keep the
04:27
military going.
04:28
And the element that we find very important is that we need to have G7
04:31
partners on board too.
04:32
The United States and other G7 partners.
04:36
And for them to be on board they have indicated that they need some
04:40
additional assurances when it comes to our sanctions regime. So of course
04:43
we and the majority of member states around the table
04:47
are okay with what has been proposed by the Commission to adapt and enhance the
04:51
sanctions regime.
04:52
So far we have not been able to reach an agreement
04:55
among all of the member states. I hope that we will manage to do so in the
04:59
upcoming
05:00
weeks because as I said you know time is ticking
05:03
and we don't have the luxury of waiting until whatever end of the year to
05:08
try to reflect what we can do.
05:10
I hope that we will manage to reach some sort of an agreement with the
05:13
Hungarian
05:14
presidency on how we can enhance the sanctions regime
05:17
and I hope that Hungary will see it and we will be able to
05:21
find an agreement.
05:22
I think that at some point in time we will inevitably have to have
05:25
a tougher discussion, potentially as part of
05:29
reparations to Ukraine to actually seize the assets that are
05:32
now frozen within the EU and provide them as part of the reparation package
05:37
to Ukraine. But that's probably a question for the future.
05:40
We have the first round of elections, parliamentary elections this Sunday so
05:43
pretty soon
05:44
we'll see what the results are but
05:47
my take is that on the key
05:50
strategic and fundamental issues be it security or foreign policy or
05:54
outlook towards the EU we should not have
05:57
dramatic changes.
Recommended
1:30
|
Up next
These EU members could pay the highest price in case of EU enlargement
euronews (in English)
18/12/2024
1:44
Moldova to crack down on Russia-backed oligarchs in push for EU accession: foreign minister
euronews (in English)
09/11/2023
3:27
Russia, European leaders alarmed by US-Russia peace talks
teleSUR English
04/04/2025
2:50
EU diplomacy struggling for influence as future of Belarus hangs in balance
euronews (in English)
27/08/2020
1:55
Ukraine deserves EU membership because 'we are fighting for Europe', says Zelenskyy advisor
euronews (in English)
13/04/2022
1:32
Moldovans and Ukrainians remain hopeful over potential EU membership
euronews (in English)
27/06/2024
1:08
At a Lapland summit EU leaders say defence spending must rise
euronews (in English)
22/12/2024
1:29
MEPs call to seize Russia’s hundreds of billions in frozen assets
euronews (in English)
23/04/2024
12:00
Ukraine must be allowed into NATO, Lithuanian defence minister tells Euronews
euronews (in English)
28/10/2024
2:10
EU countries set to endorse Ukraine as a candidate to join the bloc
euronews (in English)
23/06/2022
2:17
EU and Ukraine pledge to deepen relations, call on Russia to respect peace deal
euronews (in English)
07/10/2020
1:00
Poland invests €2.2 billion in reinforcing its border with Russia and Belarus
euronews (in English)
19/05/2024
2:12
European Parliament mulls seizure of Russian assets to help Ukraine
euronews (in English)
12/03/2025
2:09
Brussels admits link between COVID cash delays and respect for EU values
euronews (in English)
10/09/2021
1:13
'Russophobic' EU top job decisions 'bad' for ties with Russia, Kremlin says
euronews (in English)
28/06/2024
1:44
'Make Russia pay': EU moves ahead with confiscation of frozen assets, despite legal pitfalls
euronews (in English)
30/11/2022
2:09
EU not ready for Eurobonds to boost defence spending, says Commissioner Kubilius
euronews (in English)
26/03/2025
0:40
Ukraine's Zelensky says aid deal demonstrates 'strong EU unity'
AFP English
01/02/2024
12:00
Ukraine is not ready to join NATO or the EU, Juncker says
euronews (in English)
06/03/2025
8:00
Shoring up Ukraine and EU's defence
euronews (in English)
02/04/2025
1:35:25
Mistaking a crow for a phoenix Full Episode
Movie Coverage Trailers
yesterday
1:05:47
[Eng sub] Divorce on Her Terms Full Episode
Movie Coverage Trailers
yesterday
1:16:00
Wanted by the Rogue Alpha Full Episode
Movie Coverage Trailers
2 days ago
1:41
Boys and Coach Rescued from Cave in Thailand
i24NEWS (English)
11/07/2018
56:05
Syrian Civil War Anniversary Special
i24NEWS (English)
15/03/2018