“There is an ongoing debate among the EU Member States on the directions of further EU development. It is only natural that some countries want to cooperate closer on certain matters. At the same time, it is important that this cooperation is open to all Member States,” stated Raimonds Vējonis.
The President of Latvia emphasised that we were already on the good way to make the EU more united and capable in the area of security and defence. We should continue this work and ensure its complementarity with NATO. In our view, hard defence - that was clearly the role of NATO. The EU is much better at exercising soft power, especially against hybrid threats. Progress in improving European defence coordination, especially in technology and procurement, is most welcome.
Raimonds Vējonis assured that Latvia supported further measures to increase the stability and convergence of the euro area and was ready to discuss new ideas and proposals regarding the deepening of Economic and Monetary Union.
“For us, relevant keywords are convergence and cohesion we want to see in all areas like Single Market, including Digital Single Market, energy, transport, and the EU social dimension. We want to see a balanced development of the EU, which is not threatened by dividing lines and different levels of development by the Member States,” said the President of Latvia.