The government of Poland and Lithuania signed an agreement on the Gas Interconnector Poland–Lithuania earlier this week, the first pipeline connecting Poland and Lithuania.

The gas interconnector will end the long lasting isolation of the Baltic Sea region and bring the energy needed for a new economic dynamism to the region.

“You have witnessed a breakthrough,” said Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission. “You have witnessed history being made.”

Ewa Kopacz, Prime Minister of Poland, and Dalia Grybauskaité, President of Lithuania, signed the agreement in Brussels, witnessed by President Juncker and the Prime Ministers of Latvia and Estonia, Laimdota Straujuma and Taavi Rõivas.

Bridging missing links in the energy infrastructure is central to the EU’s Energy Union strategy, Juncker noted. “By joining forces and showing solidarity, the participating member states have made the region more resilient to potential shortages,” he said. “The participating states will continue to cooperate in future to further integrate the region into the EU’s internal energy market.”

The European Commission has committed to creating links that allow energy to flow where it is most needed. Building missing cross-border links between the Baltic Sea region and the rest of the EU energy market is a priority for the European Commission. Every member state should have access to at least three sources of energy, according to EC policy.