H.E. Mr. Vidmantas Purlys:

With regard to the prison situation, Lithuania is party to all major European conventions and organisations such as the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the European Union, as well as the United Nations. We comply with all the human rights frameworks that are in place that govern prison conditions. These are improving and will continue to improve. I am not an expert on prison conditions but I assure the committee it is developing in a positive direction. I hope this is shared all by other European partners and all prison conditions are getting better.

The further development of a European banking union is an important priority for the Lithuanian Presidency. There are several directives and regulations that need to be adopted to give effect to the banking union. Two of them were agreed under the Irish Presidency and will have to be negotiated with the European Parliament. We will take a hands-on approach to these discussions with the European Parliament with a view to wrapping up these conditions by the end of the year. The recent announcement by the Commission of the single resolution mechanism directive is a further building block for banking union. We hope to have this directive adopted by the end of the parliamentary term of the current European Parliament. The breaking of the link between sovereign and banking debt will be discussed while these regulations are debated.

The implementation of the EU 2020 strategy is in full gear. I do not believe new targets will be established for the remainder of this year. Lithuanian will vigorously push the EU 2020 agenda as agreed by the relevant Council conclusions and EU documents.

I thank the committee members for their kind words with regard to the diaspora and the Lithuanian community here in Ireland. Liaising with our nationals is a significant part of our embassy’s work. I thank the committee members for their good words on our co-operation and that it will develop positively. I fully agree co-operation between Lithuania and Ireland is very close. There is a good deal of co-operation between the two countries’ officials, parliamentarians and Ministers at EU and OSCE levels. The Lithuanian Presidency will open new windows for engagement with Irish officials and Ministers. The Lithuanian community in Ireland is the strong human bond that connects the two countries.

With regard to the Magnitsky case, it will depend on the discussion between EU member states as to how the response will develop. The Lithuanian Presidency will not take its own initiatives in this regard and will listen carefully to what our partners have to say on this particular issue.

As regards relations with Russia, it is a strategic partner of the EU. There is the partnership for modernisation and the post-partnership co-operation agreement with Russia. There are trade relations with Russia which are important to many EU countries. There is also a human rights dialogue. These are all important building blocks in our relationship with Russia. By and large, we have constructive and pragmatic relations with our Russian partners in a variety of areas including trade and economy.

In the area of energy, there are several actions the EU can take to balance the relationship with Russia’s major suppliers. The completion of the Internal Market with good energy infrastructure links will be very beneficial to all of our economies. It can assist in providing alternative sources of energy, reducing prices and boosting our competitiveness.