RESOLUTION

RESOLUTION SEIMAS OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA RESOLUTION ON THE POSITION OF THE SEIMAS OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA ON THE KALININGRAD ISSUE 10 October 2002 Vilnius The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, stating that in the accession negotiations with the European Union the Republic of Lithuania has closed the Justice and Home Affairs chapter and is ready to implement all the obligations under the requirements of the Schengen acquis and that the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, when implementing the agreements reached in the accession negotiations on the Justice and Home Affairs chapter, denounced the Provisional Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Lithuania and the Government of the Russian Federation on Travelling of Nationals of Both States granting visa-free regime privileges to the nationals of the Russian Federation, residents of the Kaliningrad Region, when travelling to Lithuania, declares that Lithuania is firmly committed to implementing all the requirements of the acquis and becoming a full-fledged participant of the Schengen area without any reservations and exceptions; expresses its appreciation of the efforts in the negotiations between the European Union and the Russian Federation to seek technically flexible ways of solution, and at the same time emphasizes unequivocally that technical flexibility should be applied equally within the whole Schengen area, and that this flexibility may not be an obstacle for the candidate countries to join the Schengen Agreement in future; adheres to the provision that a "Facilitated Transit Document", proposed by the Commission of the European Communities, should apply equally when travelling from the Kaliningrad Region to the Russian Federation through the territory of Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland or any other present and future Schengen country, and that the idea of visa-free transit trains may be considered only after Lithuania becomes a full-fledged party to the Schnegen Agreement, because, under the Commission of the European Communities Communication of September 18 of this year, the implementation of this idea will require to amend the Schengen Agreement, and for this reason Lithuania should participate in the negotiations on the amendments of the Schengen Agreement as a full-fledged member; calls on the Member States of the European Union and the Russian Federation, urging them to have regard to the invitation to the Russian Federation formulated in Recommendation No. 1579 of 25 September 2002 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the Enlargement of the European Union and the Kaliningrad Region, to create, without delay, conditions facilitating the solution of the Kaliningrad problem - to ratify the border demarcation agreement between the Republic of Lithuania and the Russian Federation to conclude readmission agreements, to speed up the issuing of passports to residents of the Kaliningrad Region, to solve the infrastructure issues relating to the border, to agree to the development of the consular network, and to be guided by the principle of reciprocity when considering a possibility of facilitated visas. CHAIRMAN OF THE SEIMAS OF THE REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA ARTŪRAS PAULAUSKAS