The European Union welcomes, “the balanced and pragmatic approach” by Ukraine chairing the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and it fully supports Kiev’s preparations for the upcoming OSCE meeting, said Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius. Linkevičius represented the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in the EU-OSCE meeting in Luxembourg on October 21.
“The EU has strong willingness to support the Ukrainian chairmanship in achieving success in the ministerial meeting in all OSCE dimensions, especially seeking progress in the Human Dimension,” said Minister Linkevičius. “The EU will engage constructively with all partners, like we did last year. We expect the others to do the same and show openness in the discussions.”
As a representative of the Lithuanian Presidency of the EU Council, Minister Linkevičius replaced the High Representative Catherine Ashton at the annual meeting of the EU–OSCE Political Dialogue. He also expressed strong support to the efforts of the OSCE Chairmanship to achieve consensus on the political declaration of the ministerial meeting on December 5–6 in Kiev.
The meeting also focused on the current issues and situations in the OSCE area. All EU Member States are members of the OSCE which now embraces 57 participating States. Lithuania held Chairmanship of the OSCE in 2011.
