Lithuanian foreign minister says burden-sharing of refugees in EU must be voluntary

“The EU member states must act in solidarity and contribute to the joint EU operations, provide development cooperation and humanitarian aid. Burden-sharing of refugees is one form of solidarity and it must be based on the principle of voluntarism as we agreed during the meeting of the European Council in April,” said Linkevičius.

The Council also prepared the ground for the European Council to be held on 25-26 June. During the discussions, Linkevičius noted that the draft review of the foreign and security policy should include a proper assessment of security environment, reflect new threats, such as Russia’s aggressive actions in the EU neighbourhood, ensure synergies between other EU policies and strategies – challenges in the European neighbourhood, domestic security, migration and others.

In the context of the relationship with Russia, Linkevičius underlined that the European Council had agreed in March on a package of restrictive measures targeting sectoral cooperation and exchanges with Russia until the full implementation of the Minsk agreements, so it was necessary to start the procedures on these issues.