BNS: EU shouldn't leave members in solitary scramble with Russia for energy supply -- Lithuania's president-elect
VILNIUS-RIGA, May 28, BNS - Lithuania's president-elect Dalia Grybauskaite feels the European Union (EU) shouldn't leave it up to solitary states to struggle with Russia for energy supply." We would like the EU to speak in one voice on energy supplies and not leave separate states alone in their battle with Russia," Grybauskaite on Thursday told Latvian public radio.
Asked about the most critical issues in relations with Russia, the Lithuanian president-elect said at the EU level relations between all member states and Russia had grown more complicated due to disagreements on energy supplies, developments in Georgia last August and in Ukraine last winter. While agreeing that Vilnius and Moscow share many a disagreement, Grybauskaite noted that both countries must pursue constructive dialogue and avoid previously eminent irritating rhetoric. "If our neighbors, especially Russia, are ready to cooperate, I will be highly interested in responding with the same. I will seek respectful, balanced cooperation, but without selling out Lithuanian values, and avoiding offensive rhetoric," Lithuania's president-elect spoke. Her first foreign visits will have "no symbolic significance", said Grybauskaite, noting she will put Lithuania's interests above every thing else. Lithuania's president-elect Dalia Grybauskaite's inauguration is scheduled for July 12.