Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like other speakers, I welcome Mr. Purlys and wish him well during the course of the Presidency. What is his overall opinion of the EU, its evolution and the extent to which it is meeting expectations in its development and in achieving its goals? Does he see any particular areas of concern with particular reference to the need for the EU to speak as an entity as opposed to speaking at itself or different regions appearing to speak to each other in less than deferential terms? Will he and the Presidency be in a position to encourage the evolution of unity of purpose within the EU?

My next question concerns the availability of dual passports for some people. For example, in Ireland, there are some people who qualify for Irish passports and I understand that some difficulties arose in respect of obtaining dual passports in Lithuania. To what extent has that been resolved?

My other question relates to stateless persons. To what extent are people categorised as stateless in Lithuania? How are they accommodated? We have a number of stateless persons of Russian origin in this country. We are coming to terms with arranging their eligibility for naturalisation but there are some who still find themselves in literally a no-man's land for a considerable length of time. To what extent will that be resolved?

Reference has been made by other speakers to the EU's neighbourhood policies. To what extent does Lithuania see itself as being able to encourage the development of that neighbourhood policy to the south, east and north?