Minister Budrys: The EU must take the lead on Ukraine and the future of European securityActivities of the Minister of Foreign AffairsEuropean UnionMultilateral[...]

The Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union, held in Brussels on 15 December, focused on EU support for Ukraine and potential security guarantees.

Minister Budrys stressed that the peace negotiation process could not take place without European involvement and called for strengthening Ukraine's negotiating position as a matter of urgency, opening Ukraine's EU membership negotiations, and ensuring that all member states join the establishment of a Special Tribunal and secure its funding. Budrys welcomed the agreement reached by EU member states that Russian assets will remain frozen until Russia ends its war against Ukraine and pays reparations, and called for a reparations loan to be agreed as soon as possible.

"The EU must take the lead on the future of the Ukrainian and European security. For Europe's security, it is vital that Russia's war against Ukraine ends with a sustainable and just peace. Ukraine needs to feel strong at the negotiating table, and Europe can help achieve that. The EU membership and a reparations loan are two strong cards that we can place in the hands of Ukraine," the Minister said.

At the FAC meeting, Budrys stressed the importance of returning Ukrainian children abducted by Russia and called for more active international cooperation. Lithuania contributes to the Children First program, aimed at returning, rehabilitating, and reintegrating Ukrainian children and ensuring Russia's accountability, as well as to the Safe Pathways Home initiative, which provides smooth transit, medical, and other assistance for evacuated persons from occupied Ukrainian territories.

On Monday, the Council approved additional sanctions against entities enabling the activities of the shadow fleet, as well as new sanctions against Russian entities responsible for hybrid activities. In response to the Belarusian hybrid attack, the Council also endorsed Lithuania's proposal to expand the EU sanctions regime against Belarus with additional criteria related to hybrid activities, introducing sanctions on individuals and legal entities responsible for disrupting critical infrastructure operations, actions aimed at damaging or destroying critical infrastructure-including sabotage and cyber activities-and information manipulation. The Minister thanked EU member states for their solidarity with Lithuania, which is facing Belarusian hybrid attacks, and for agreeing to expand the EU sanctions regime against Belarus with additional criteria.