European Union
Lithuania favours Greece staying in eurozone
Lithuanian officials will tell eurozone finance ministers on Saturday and EU leaders on Sunday that Vilnius is in favour of Greece staying in the monetary union. […]
European Union
European Union
EC: 21 new infringement cases opened against Lithuania in 2014
The European Commission has published its annual report on how it monitored the application of Union law in 2014. Twenty one new infringement cases were opened against Lithuania in 2014. […]
Politics
Lithuania to accept 85 refugees from non third countries, vice-minister says
Lithuania will accept 85 refugees from third countries, says Vice-Minister of the Interior Elvinas Jankevičius. EU interior minister are also scheduled to hold talks on the relocation of migrants from Greece and Italy on July 20. […]
European Union
Lithuanian political scientist says Greece will find it difficult to win allies in Europe
Lithuanian political scientist Ramūnas Vilpišauskas, director of the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University, says that the Greek government is realizing the ineffectiveness of its combative position and is now trying to look for allies in Europe. […]
European Union
Syriza member in Vilnius: Workers’ rights are the biggest loss in Greek debt crisis
Europeans are starting to realize how sombre the situation is for the Greek people and sympathize with their plight, says Dimitris Papanikolaou, academic from Oxford University. The austerity measures imposed on Greece have done little to get the country out of debt and a lot to dismantle welfare provisions and workers’ rights. The fight to prevent this, he says, is not Greece’s alone – the Europe we joined is a Europe that ensures the minimum of dignified life for everyone. […]
Politics
Lithuania gets ready for refugee challenge
As the European Union launches talks on refugee distribution, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė says accepting several hundred refugees is not only a challenge but also an opportunity to solve the problem of short workforce supply. […]
European Union
Lithuanian government’s approval would be needed for ESM loan to Greece, finance minister says
Finance Minister Rimantas Šadžius says that if the eurozone decided to provide financial support to Greece from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), in Lithuania it would be the government that would decide on whether or not to approve the loan. […]
European Union
Lithuanian MEPs unconvinced by Greek prime minister’s speech in Strasbourg
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ speech in Strasbourg on Wednesday did not convince Lithuanian MEPs who said they only heard excuses but not real proposals on ways to deal with the debt crisis after Greek voters turned down creditors’ demands in a referendum on Sunday. […]
Opinion
Opinion: The Riga Summit and its outcomes
The fourth Eastern Partnership Summit was held in Riga on 21-22 May 2015. The joint Declaration of the Riga Summit did not reaffirm either the European perspective of the Eastern European Partnership countries consistently demonstrating the best performance or the political support to Georgia and Ukraine in visa liberalization that Tbilisi and Kiev were looking forward to. Quite the opposite, compared to the Vilnius Summit document adopted two years ago, the tone and ambition of the Riga Summit declaration seemed rather weakened. […]
European Union
Lithuanian president and finance minister off to Brussels for Greek debt summit
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė and Finance Minister Rimantas Šadžius will on Tuesday attend an emergency meeting with their counterparts in Brussels to discuss the Greek debt crisis following the Sunday referendum that saw the Greeks voted down austerity measures. […]
Economy
Retail trade in Lithuania down 1.2 percent in May
In May 2015 compared with April 2015, the seasonally adjusted volume of retail trade rose by 0.2 percent in the euro area and by 0.3 pct in the European Union. In May 2015 compared with May 2014 the retail sales index increased by 2.4 percent in the euro area and by 3.0 pct in the EU, said Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. […]
Opinion
Opinion: Open season on scapegoats in Europe
It’s an open season on scapegoats in Europe. If you are not guilty of something, you must be coming from a founding Member State. You can be blamed for bad finances, lack of solidarity or ambition. All these “sins” are disproportionate to the size of your economy and wealth of your society. […]
Foreign affairs
Lithuania’s deputy foreign minister congratulates new British ambassador
On 3 July, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Neris Germanas congratulated British Ambassador to Lithuania Claire Lawrence on her new position. […]
European Union
ECB vice-president: Greek ‘No’ vote would weaken chances for financial assistance deal
A “No” vote in Greece‘s referendum on Sunday would weaken chances for Athens to reach an agreement with its creditors, Vitor Constancio, vice-president of the European Central Bank, said in Vilnius on Friday. […]
Foreign affairs
Lithuania supports international fight against nuclear terrorism
The four-day Sherpa Meeting before the 2016 Nuclear Security Summit ended on 2 July in Vilnius. The meeting brought together 130 high-ranking officials from 48 countries along with representatives from international organisations like the United Nations (UN), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the European Union (EU) and Interpol, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. […]
Politics
Lithuania might have to accept more than 250 refugees, PM says
Lithuania might have to accept more than 250 refugees in an effort to help ease the Mediterranean migrant crisis, Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius said on Wednesday. […]
European Union
Luxembourg takes over EU Council presidency
Latvia has officially handed over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) to Luxembourg. […]
European Union
European Union to abolish mobile phone roaming fees
The Latvian presidency reached a provisional deal on the last day before the end of its term, according to which mobile phone roaming fees in the European Union will be abolished and open internet access will be safeguarded as of 15 June 2017. […]
European Union
Mogherini’s Vilnius visit postponed due to Iran talks
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini has postponed her planned visit to Vilnius this week due to negotiations on Iran‘s nuclear programme, the spokesman for the Lithuanian foreign minister has confirmed. […]
Foreign affairs
President’s advisor Jovita Neliupšienė to become Lithuania’s EU ambassador
Presidential adviser Jovita Neliupšienė will be appointed Lithuania’s ambassador to the European Union, replacing outgoing Ambassador Raimundas Karoblis. […]