VILNIUS, July 21 (Xinhua) -- Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda on Tuesday welcomed the European Union (EU) multiannual financial framework and the European recovery fund reached in Brussels after days of discussion, saying the new budget will make it possible to create a welfare state more effectively.
"My objective at the negotiating table was to secure adequate EU funding for innovation and green policies from both the traditional cohesion and agricultural allocations as well as from the newly established recovery and resilience facility," said Nauseda in a press release from the presidency.
The new budget will see Lithuania secure 1.7 billion euros (1.96 billion U.S. dollars) more for 2021-2027, with total sum of allocations amounting to 14.5 billion euros.
The president hailed it as "a unique opportunity for Lithuania to invest in modernization and our common future".
According to the presidency, Lithuania focused mainly on the financing of cohesion and agricultural policies during the negotiations. It will receive a total of 6.2 billion euros in cohesion funds.
"It is important to point out that our argument -- presented in a consistent way -- that the decline in Lithuanian population affected economic development was taken into account," said the president.
The next multiannual financial framework will provide 5 billion euros in agricultural funds. The president underlined that the good news was that a sum of more than 400 million euros had been granted for direct payments.
"It would accelerate the pace of creating equal competitive conditions for Lithuanian farmers in the EU's internal market," read the release. Enditem
