President hopes for fair distribution of EU recovery fund

Increased financing for the European Union’s (EU) cohesion policy is one of the biggest expectations of the Baltic countries as regards the new Union’s multiannual financial framework, Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda has said, also calling to ensure a fair and unbiased distribution of the proposed EU recovery fund.

Lithuania’s state leader on Thursday held a telephone conversation with Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheal Martin to discuss EU budget negotiations and strategies to address the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, the president’s office said in a press release.

“The Union shall honor its commitments to pursue a uniform level of direct payments to the Baltic countries’ farmers so as to achieve their full convergence by 2027 and to ensure proper financing for the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (INPP) and implementation of Kaliningrad transit scheme,” the press release quoted the president as saying.

Lithuania could apply for 6.3 billion euros from the new 750-billion-euros economic recovery instrument proposed by the European Commission.

According to Nauseda, Lithuania considers that the criteria applied for the distribution of the instrument shall be fair and unbiased and the recovery fund must be accessible to all member states.