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As global challenges and threats arise to our common values of democracy, human rights and individual liberty, the European frontiers should be perceived also as the U.S. frontiers, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Audronius Ažubalis said on 16 November when giving a lecture at the non-profit public policy organization The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. “Rising social pressure as a result of the recent economic crisis, the decline of democracy and human rights globally and in close vicinity of Europe should be perceived by us as a serious warning. It is evident that there is no quick fix to these problems and partial responses by individual nations or their groups are not sufficient. In this sense the European frontiers are also the U.S. frontiers,” the Minister said.

According to the Minister, now Europe faces various challenges: these are the old frozen conflicts, new emerging conflict spots and threats ranging from terrorism, cyber attacks to threats against energy security of the European Union and NATO members. The very existence of these threats contributes to uncertainty and encourages anti-democratic tendencies in regions most affected, the head of Lithuanian diplomacy noted.

Minister A.Ažubalis drew participants’ attention to a number of alarming facts: the fashion of pragmatic engagement with autocracies, dramatic reduction of democracy building efforts in emerging democracies, no focus, and the fact that autocracies are uniting and they use very postmodern instruments to influence democracies.

The Minister confirmed that the pursue of democracy was imbedded in the priorities of Lithuania’s foreign policy, and Lithuania follows this priority as the president of the global Community of Democracies and in its preparations to chair the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the EU.

“We have to reform the Community of Democracies in such a way that it would become a more relevant and effective tool to consolidate our democratic achievements of last two decades. Focusing on concrete deliverables, be it civil society, women and democracy agenda, parliamentary democracy or youth, we could still make the difference,” Minister A.Ažubalis said.

According to the Minister, we need to strengthen the role of the OSCE to enhance its capabilities for international crisis management and to define the role of the OSCE in the field of energy security, enhance transparency and early warning capabilities.

The Minister believes that the EU needs to offer an EU membership perspective for its Eastern European neighbours, which would contribute to the modernization and full transformation of their societies.

When speaking about relations with Russia, Minister A.Ažubalis said that Lithuania believed in an open dialogue and engagement with Russia on all issues, but it had to be a team work.

“If we hurry too much, if we continue just on bilateral platforms, if we sacrifice our values and principles, we loose Russia - this great country - as a part of European family. And we don’t want this to happen,” the Minister said.

According to Minister A.Ažubalis, when cooperating with Belarus, Lithuania’s another neighbour, the government of that country should be constantly pressured to comply with democratic principles and values.  The opposition of the country should be further supported and consolidated.

According to the Minister, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) would monitor and evaluate the upcoming presidential elections in Belarus. “ODIHR and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly have the best election monitoring and evaluation practice,” Minister A.Ažubalis emphasized.