Europe facing new threats

VILNIUS-

Ata conference on the European security culture on 30 May, Lithuanian Minister ofForeign Affairs Petras Vaitiekūnas indicated that along the known threats oftoday 's terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, regionalconflicts and organized crime 's Europe facesnew threats.

According to the Minister, one of the greatest new threats is the energysecurity problem.

The Minister said, that founding of the EU and its enlargement guaranteedpeace in a greater part of the European continent.

'Wishing the EU voice to be heard widely, we have to further develop common securitypolicy, which means that the EU countries have to be ready to spend more onit,' said the head of Lithuanian diplomacy.

However, as a possible danger P.Vaitiekūnas named also a certain fatigue,which appeared after the enlargement of the European Union.

P.Vaitiekūnas indicated that while speaking about the European securityculture, we were also speaking about values. These values are named in the maindocuments of the EU, the Council of Europe and the Organization for Securityand Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

'Respect for human dignity, freedom, democratic society and genuine marketeconomy are and should remain the basis for every European action,' saidMinister P. Vaitiekūnas.

In speaking about democratic values, the Minister stressed the significance ofrelations with Russia.All the EU countries, including Lithuania,are interested in close cooperation with Russia's peaceful and democratic Russia,which would respect human rights, the rule of law, firmly abiding to theinternational law and principles of good neighbourhood, he said.