The minister of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu, had a telephone conversation with his counterpart from Lithuania, Gabrielius Landsbergis, on Monday, in the context in which the head of Romanian diplomacy referred to the fact that Romania is going to resume, this year, its participation in air police missions in the Baltic Sea region, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) informed in a press release sent to Agerpres.

For his part, the Lithuanian Foreign minister thanked Romania „for the active attitude in the field and for the resumption of our country’s participation in the air police missions”, the cited source says.

In addition to an exchange of opinions regarding the developments in the next period in relation to the bilateral, European and Euro-Atlantic agenda, the conversation focused on the accession process of Romania to the Schengen area and the recent steps in this file.

Thus, according to MAE, the subject of Romania’s accession to Schengen was discussed at length during the conversation, minister Bogdan Aurescu informing Gabrielius Landsbergis about the „intense dialogue held in recent weeks with counterparts from most member states, including the Swedish presidency of EU Council”.

In this context, Bogdan Aurescu informed about the reconfirmation, within these talks, of the firm support of his counterparts for this objective, for the benefit of European unity and solidarity, as well as about their decision to be actively involved in supporting Romania.

Regarding the dialogue with Austria, the minister of Foreign Affairs spoke about the dialogue already initiated with the Austrian side, as a constructive attitude, oriented towards solutions on the part of the Austrian executive, necessary to overcome the deadlock situation.

Furthermore, Aurescu reiterated that our country „wants to actively engage in the efforts at the EU level regarding the formulation of effective concrete solutions to the challenges caused by illegal migration, in continuity with its actions and conduct up to now based on solidarity and responsibility, although it does not accept the artificial connection between the matter of migration and Romania’s accession”.

Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis reiterated Lithuania’s firm support for Romania’s accession to the Schengen area, expressing full willingness to continue an active dialogue with the other European partners on this topic and underlining the importance of this decision for the entire European agenda, especially in the current especially difficult security context.

The two dignitaries welcomed the very good level of bilateral relations and the efficient coordination within the EU, NATO and regional formats, such as the Three Seas Initiative and the Bucharest 9 Format. In this context, the two ministers had an exchange of views on the objectives of the future NATO Summit in Vilnius, in the summer of this year, both from the perspective of ensuring the implementation of the objectives assumed at the previous summit in Madrid, as well as with a view to preparing some more substantial decisions, including in the light of the current developments determined by the aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.

Agerpres