In her speech in Strasbourg, the president emphasized the importance of creating an efficient banking union, and that member-states should continue reducing their debts. Grybauskaitė also pledged Lithuania would work hard to reduce unemployment.
"Over the coming six months, by all means let us discuss and share our concerns. But let us also deliver," Grybauskaitė said.
"The (European) Parliament and the Council have already reached agreement on the Single Supervisory Mechanism. We adopted the two-pack and the six-pack. In March last year, 25 member-states signed up to the Fiscal Compact, pledging themselves to strict limits on structural budget deficits and to a gradual reduction of debt levels. The time has come to implement those commitments," the Lithuanian president said.
In her words, the Lithuanian presidency will put every effort into making as much progress as possible in negotiations on the Single Resolution Mechanism, ensuring that both the euro and non-euro area member-states are able to contribute and benefit from effective economic governance.
She said "the Lithuanian presidency will spare no effort in facing up to the urgent and, in an ever more present way, dangerous issue of unemployment."
"We shall put a relentless focus on creating jobs. Invoking the Youth Guarantee scheme, we shall strive to find new ways to create conditions which boost employment opportunities for young people in particular," Grybauskaitė said.
On July 1, Lithuania took over presidency over the EU Council, which consists of officials of member-states.
