Irenda Degutienė in Hungary: Europe is not only in crisis of finance, but also of values

Following a meeting with Speaker of the National Assembly Laszlo Kover on Monday, Degutienė was quoted as saying that agreement had been made "to seek that the EU's direct payments to farmers and Cohesion Fund aid is equal and fair to all EU member states without discrimination of smaller countries."

Degutienė also criticized spending at EU institutions, especially the double seat of the European Parliament in Strasbourg and Brussels.

"It's absurd that MEPs are travelling between Brussels and Strasbourg, spending huge amounts that could otherwise be spent on narrowing the payment gap between the old and new EU member states. Unfortunately, every time we start talking about that, it leads to huge resentment and they start saying that the tradition of double seat cannot be changed," Degutienė said.

Degutienė and Kover also discussed opportunities for strengthening the role of smaller countries in EU institutions, the EU's further development outlook, and value-based European integration.

"We cannot allow a "two-gear" Europe to emerge. We also cannot allow discrimination of smaller countries. We appreciate Hungary's efforts in protecting Christian values of Shuman's Europe," Degutienė said.

The Lithuanian speaker added that Europe was not only in an economic and financial crisis but also in a value crisis.

"We have to help Europe get its identity back. As the financial problems everybody is talking about is the result of a crisis of values. Europe is gravely ill but nobody dares to say it needs medicine. If the situation continues, the crisis of values and finance will turn into a demographic crisis, and we'll have to draw an even darker picture of Europe's future," Degutienė said.

Lithuania want payments to the old and new EU member states to be equalized faster than the European Commission proposed.

Based on the draft EU budget for 2014-2020, payments to Lithuanian farmers will not reach the EU average by 2020 but will increase by a third on average gradually growing from LTL 459 to 614.6 (EUR 175.5) per hectare.

New EC proposals also include a proposal to cap maximum aid for one farmer to EUR 300,000.

The EU average direct payments stand at EUR 249 per hectare, compared to EUR 143 received by Lithuania, EUR 112 by Estonia and around EUR 83 by Latvia.