On May 20th, the Eastern Europe Studies Centre organized a discussion in the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania under the title “Lithuania’s Interests in Shaping the EU Development Strategy.” During the conversation with the Center’s Associate Expert, Justinas Mickus, who presented his study “EU Reforms in View of Enlargement and Economic Security: Towards an Integrated Approach to European Self-Transformation,” we discussed the most important issues related to this topic.
Regarding EU expansion, the lack of ambition in the EU and the absence of a transformative and future-oriented strategy were highlighted. It should also be noted that, in the context of EU expansion, it is particularly important to consider how the governance of the EU will look when it has more than thirty members, as well as the abolition of the veto right and tax reform.
In the discussion, a lot of attention was also paid to the EU’s economic cooperation with other countries and the pursuit of economic security. For example, from Lithuania’s perspective, it is important to note that Lithuania is one of the most prominent flag bearers of economic cooperation. When China started to exert economic pressure on Lithuania due to the opening of Taiwanese representation office, Lithuania quickly became a strong advocate for economic cooperation. Regarding economic security, diversification becomes a particularly important aspect. It is often said that the EU needs to develop more economic ties, sign free market agreements with additional countries, and thus reduce risks by diversifying its trading partners.
Photos by Viktoriia Chorna