OREANDA-NEWS. February 18, 2013. Thanks to exceptional cooperation between the three Baltic States in negotiations regarding the new budgetary period of the European Union, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have come out of talks for the seven-year budget that was approved last week as clear winners, said Prime Minister Andrus Ansip and president of the Lithuanian parliament Vidas Gedvilas at a meeting.

“Recent experiences show that we have everything to gain from working together and nothing to lose – so let’s keep up the good work!” said Ansip at his meeting with the Lithuanian speaker. Per head of capita, the Baltic States stand to gain most from the new EU budgetary period, with the greatest benefit being reaped by Lithuania, followed by Estonia and Latvia. Support for Estonia will amount to approximately 5.89 billion euros in the new period, to which could be added further financing from the Connecting Europe Facility for the Rail Baltic project should the application process prove successful.

Prime Minister Ansip says the Baltic States should turn more attention to transport connections between their countries. “How can we even talk about a single market if we don’t have any connections?” he remarked. Gedvilas said that transport connections are equally important to Lithuania. The two politicians agreed that the current lack of connections is a major problem for Baltic entrepreneurs – one which all three countries should do their utmost to resolve.

Speaking further on the negotiations held in Brussels last week, Gedvilas also expressed satisfaction at the outcome of funding for the Ignalina nuclear power plant. During the new budgetary period Lithuania will receive 450 million euros for the closure of the plant. From the current budgetary period, the country has an outstanding 300 million euros (from a total of 800 million granted) which it has also been permitted to use between 2014 and 2020.

Energy was also discussed at the meeting. Prime Minister Ansip said that Estonia remains interested in contributing to the Visaginas nuclear power plant project provided that it is economically viable. A policy position on the power plant is currently being formulated in Lithuania. Gedvilas confirmed that in any event energy security is very important not only to Lithuania but to the region as a whole.

Also receiving confirmation at the meeting were Lithuania’s plans to join the Eurozone in 2015. Estonia supports both Latvia and Lithuania’s adoption of the European single currency.