On 19 March 2024, in Brussels, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Krišjānis Kariņš, took part in a meeting of the General Affairs Council of the European Union (EU), which featured a discussion on the future of the EU in the context of enlargement, highlighting the need to move rapidly ahead with the enlargement process.
The General Affairs Council looked at the specific ways to organise work for adapting the EU so that it would be ready to receive new Member States. The Foreign Minister underlined that the most important thing was, with a view to an enlarged European Union, to agree on how to adapt EU policies and build the EU’s future budget. At the same time, Krišjānis Kariņš urged those present not to forget that regular and direct communication with the public about the EU enlargement and the steps taken to prepare the EU for future enlargement processes.
“The EU must also be able to act and respond in the future to the consequences of actions by any third country and the changing geopolitical environment, which is particularly important at this moment in the context of Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine,” Krišjānis Kariņš emphasized at the meeting.
Ministers also discussed the draft conclusions of the European Council of 21 and 22 March and agreed on recommendations formulated during the European Semester process. The representatives of the Member States exchanged views on the electoral process in EU candidate countries and on the future of the EU Single Market. Ministers were also presented with the course of the rule of law reform in Poland.