The so-called Vilnius Declaration was signed by Sean Barrett, speaker of Ireland's House of Representatives, Vydas Gedvilas, speaker of the Seimas of Lithuania, and Athanassios Papaioannou, secretary general of the Greek parliament.
The declaration welcomes the agreement reached between the EU Council and the European Parliament on the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework for 2014-2020 and emphasizes the urgent need to encourage the debate on the future of the EU with active participation of European citizens, social and economic partners and all other relevant stakeholders.
The documents also calls on EU member states to "pursue the needed structural reforms, improve efficiency of public expenditures and to continue fiscal discipline in order to achieve economic growth and long-term sustainability of public finances; stresses the urgent need to give priority to measures aimed at increasing employment, especially youth employment, including through YEI and the Youth Guarantee."
The EU Presidency Trio also called on member states to reform the labor market, invest in the human capital, and expand free trade and investment agreements, and emphasized the need for a more competitive and less bureaucratic EU.
The declaration also underlines that enlargement, as the key EU policy area, serves the strategic interests of the EU and continues to strengthen peace, democracy and stability in Europe. Meanwhile, the EU's eastern and southern partners were called on continuing their engagement and commitment.
Lithuania took over the rotating EU presidency on July 1.
