Parliamentary Scrutiny of EU Affairs in Lithuania: The Dog That Rarely Barks

Abstract

Accession to the European Union (EU), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) membership and good neighbourly relations became the strategic priorities of Lithuania’s foreign policy soon after it re-established its independence on 11 March 1990.1 European and transatlantic integration gathered pace, and Lithuania with the other two Baltic states — Estonia and Latvia — negotiated a number of agreements with the EU, leading to the start of accession negotiations less than a decade after they were recognized as sovereign states. Lithuanian political leaders formally applied for EU membership in December 1995. Accession negotiations, which Lithuania started together with so-called second wave of candidate countries in 2000, were finalized at the end of 2002. After a referendum in 2003, which produced a clear majority for EU membership (91 per cent backed Lithuania’s EU accession on a turnout of 63 per cent), Lithuania joined the EU on 1 May 2004, having become a member of NATO on 29 March 2004.