When Lithuania became a member of the EU, few imagined that membership would bring such advantages to our country

The contemporaries of those events could not yet well imagine what advantages this membership would bring to Lithuania. There was no shortage of opponents of joining NATO and the EU, even some of the creators of Sąjūdis expressed their doubts.

They thought that it would be more useful for Lithuania to remain neutral, to become a kind of bridge between East and West.

Membership in the EU was also frightening due to the delegation of part of the statehood to Brussels, there is a fear that our country will lose its sovereignty and in the long run its half a billion inhabitants will dissolve in the Community.

However, when Russia attacked Ukraine, it became obvious what danger Lithuania would have faced if it had not become a member of NATO. Membership in the EU is no less important, providing not only economic and social security, but also strengthening Lithuania from a defensive point of view.

Now, the new geopolitical situation is changing the security tools used by the EU: it is planned to create the position of European Commissioner for Defense, develop joint arms purchases, and the establishment of military forces cannot be ruled out.

As a result of further expansion, the EU will not avoid institutional changes.

The idea of ​​federalization is particularly controversial. The small EU member states fear that they will lose their sovereignty by ceding more and more powers to Brussels.

But Hungarian Prime Minister V. Orban’s blinkers revealed that the principle of unanimity can paralyze the EU, so it is necessary to limit the right of veto.

Lithuania will have to maneuver between the extremely important opportunity for our country to stop EU decisions unacceptable to us and the interest to make the Community as effective as possible.

One or another compromise will have to be reached by the countries, because there is no other way out due to a hostile Russia and due to the strengthening of global competition.

Hence, it is necessary to strengthen cohesion, Brussels tends to go on the path of federalization.

Understandably, a more centralized EU will give more power to the big countries, but some balance is also possible.

Together with allies with similar interests, Lithuania can preserve both its independence and enable the EU to function more effectively. Otherwise, EU members would be threatened with walking away or Lithuania would have to withdraw from it.

However, such a turn would be a disaster, because EU membership is important for us not only because of direct financial support from cohesion funds. It is also a huge market for Lithuanian products and services, European legal norms, greater foreign investments, and the umbrella of economic and social stability in the event of global crises.

The economic development of Lithuania and the other two Baltic countries for a couple of decades is considered a success story. Lithuania’s gross domestic product grew perhaps the fastest and has now approached the EU average in terms of purchasing power per capita.

When joining the EU, the Baltic countries, according to this indicator, were at the bottom of the ten new members accepted in 2004, and now Lithuania is one of the leaders of this group and is behind only Slovenia and the Czech Republic, even slightly ahead of Estonia, which is often cited as an example.

These three countries, known as the Baltic Tigers, were admitted to the EU with great difficulty.

The expansion of the community caused great doubts for France, which feared that Eastern and Central Europe would fall under the influence of Germany and that Berlin would gain a power advantage over Paris.

Even 83 percent the French did not support the development, because they considered the post-Soviet countries to be very corrupt, they feared that crime and cheap labor would flow from them.

There were similar bans in other Western European countries.

It took a lot of political will from the leaders of the European Union to bring about the largest expansion of the Community in history. Even with this determination, Lithuania and Latvia could still be pushed to the next stage of development, which took place in 2007. Estonia was considered the leader in preparation and was intended to be invited along with the selected 5 Central European countries, in which case the Estonians would have gained an advantage.

Poland was also in danger of not getting an invitation because it was the poorest, most populous country in Central Europe that needed the most support, but EU leaders finally decided to accept it, realizing that otherwise the region would remain disunited.

After the agreement on Poland, Lithuania and Latvia already seemed like a small burden on the EU.

Kaliningrad region, which became an exclave surrounded by the EU, caused additional difficulties for Lithuania.

However, our country’s negotiators were able to very successfully harmonize Lithuanian law with EU requirements, complete all stages of negotiations and agree on transit to the Kaliningrad region.

The Baltic countries proved that the EU was not mistaken in accepting them, they do not oppose the decisions of Brussels, adhere to Western values, support the legal agreements of the Community and avoid more serious political upheavals.

This kind of non-conflict policy did not weaken, but strengthened the authority of the Baltic countries. Of course, influence is limited by meager resources, but Russia’s aggression showed that the voice of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia is heard and their opinions are respected.

The war in Ukraine will end someday, but the Baltic countries will continue to have the opportunity to remain important players in regional politics.