Lithuania's EU Presidency in Historical Context

Lithuania assumed the European Union's six-month rotating presidency July 1, but the strategic interests that shape its foreign policy will continue to be intertwined with those of its immediate neighbors — Poland, Belarus and Ukraine — and those of Russia, its historic adversary. The priorities of Lithuania's presidency reflect these lingering connections, but Vilnius' foreign policy constraints are outweighed by its interests — as they have since the founding of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth some 400 years ago.