First 3 months of Latvian presidency of EU successful: FM

The first three months of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the EU have passed successfully, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said at a press conference Monday.

"I can assure you that we have not had a single failure so far," Rinkevics said. "On the contrary, I have only been hearing praise about the professionalism of our ministers and representation in Brussels," Rinkevics said.

Rinkevics indicated that the absence of any dramatic developments had to be regarded as a success in itself.

"That everything has been going so smoothly from a bureaucratic and political standpoint is a success in my opinion," the Latvian foreign minister said.

"For Latvian officials and politicians, it meant gaining experience in summarizing everything," Rinkevics said, noting that Latvia was only half-way through its EU presidency and that a lot of meetings and events were still ahead.

"In the coming months we will be concentrating on the biggest foreign relations event in Latvia - the Eastern Partnership Summit," Rinkevics said.

Rinkevics has repeatedly indicated earlier that, as the EU presidency, Latvia would be a fair and impartial negotiator between all parties concerned.

The Latvian presidency, during its term from Jan. 1 to June 30, is focusing on three priorities: seeing that Europe is competitive, digital, and engaged internationally, with special attention devoted to questions of security, the foreign minister said. Endit