Lithuania: A Case of Confidence in the European Project
If Lithuania did not enter the EU with specific objectives in mind, it has clearly benefited from its membership. Membership has allowed the country to catch up economically, to join the Single Market and expand business opportunities. Its adoption of the euro in the midst of the Eurozone crisis is another evidence of Lithuanian keenness to participate actively to the EU.
Lithuanians do are little interested in the level of EU integration. What matters is a strong EU and Lithuania as a member of all circles. EU membership has also allowed the country to feel more confident about asserting its interests in its Eastern neighbourhood to become the “regional activist” within the Eastern Partnership.
The EU does not face a crisis of legitimacy in Lithuania and conjures a very positive image. However, the EU could do better to formulate what it stands for. Today, it appears too technical. But instead of new policies, it should develop the concept of “Europeanness”.
This publication is part of the "Building Bridges Paper Series". For more information about this project, click here.
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Lithuania: A Case of Confidence in the European Project
Center for Asian Studies
Asia is a nerve center for multiple global economic, political and security challenges. The Center for Asian Studies provides documented expertise and a platform for discussion on Asian issues to accompany decision makers and explain and contextualize developments in the region for the sake of a larger public dialogue.
The Center's research is organized along two major axes: relations between Asia's major powers and the rest of the world; and internal economic and social dynamics of Asian countries. The Center's research focuses primarily on China, Japan, India, Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific, but also covers Southeast Asia, the Korean peninsula and the Pacific Islands.
The Centre for Asian Studies maintains close institutional links with counterpart research institutes in Europe and Asia, and its researchers regularly carry out fieldwork in the region.
The Center organizes closed-door roundtables, expert-level seminars and a number of public events, including an Annual Conference, that welcome experts from Asia, Europe and the United States. The work of Center’s researchers, as well as that of their partners, is regularly published in the Center’s electronic journal Asie.Visions.
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