LITHUANIA, December 8 - On 8 December, the Prime Ministers’ meeting of the Baltic Council of Ministers between Prime Minister of Lithuania Ingrida Šimonytė, Prime Minister of Estonia Kaja Kallas, and Prime Minister of Latvia Krišjānis Kariņš, took place in Vilnius.

The meeting discussed the coordinated actions of the Baltic states in response to the ongoing hybrid attack by the Belarus regime and the security challenges in the region. The Prime Ministers discussed the strategic projects for electricity, gas, and transport connections, the need to strengthen cooperation between the countries in implementing the European Green Deal, and shared experiences in managing the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in view of the spread of the new Omicron variant.

‘The situation at the EU-Belarus remains tense. The hybrid attack is still ongoing. Therefore, we have agreed to continue to cooperate actively in the protection of the EU’s external borders and to coordinate our efforts with a view to making appropriate changes to EU’s migration policy and decisions on how to respond more quickly and effectively to such hybrid attacks. This year’s extremely close cooperation between the Baltic states in response to the hybrid attack by the Belarus regime has once again shown that we are stronger when we stand in solidarity,’ said the Prime Minister of Lithuania.

It has been agreed that sanctions against the Belarus regime for the instrumentalisation of migration should continue until the situation at the EU-Belarus border changes substantially.

The Prime Ministers of the Baltic states paid major attention to discussing the security situation in the region. According to the Prime Minister of Lithuania, the build-up of the Russian troops around Ukraine and attempts to limit decisions of the sovereign state to ensure its security are unacceptable. Therefore, it is important to increase support for Ukraine.

Relations with China were also discussed at the meeting.

The Prime Ministers of the three Baltic states emphasised the need to continue the ongoing strategic electricity and gas interconnection projects to ensure deeper integration into the common European energy market as well as the secure and reliable energy supply.

Prime Minister Šimonytė emphasised the importance of maintaining a united position on the unsafe Astravets Nuclear Power Plant.

The Prime Ministers discussed cooperation in the field of renewable energy, including the possibility of jointly developing joint regional projects. The progress of the implementation of the Rail Baltica and Via Baltica projects was also discussed at the meeting.

The meeting of the Prime Ministers of the three Baltic states took place in Vilnius at the end of Lithuania’s Presidency of the Baltic Council of Ministers (BCM). Latvia takes over the rotating Presidency of the BCM format as of next year.