Foreign affairs
European Union
Foreign affairs
Opinion
Loopholes and taxation: Overseeing a fairer European Union
Companies should pay a fair share of taxes on the money they earn, and governments should not favor certain businesses by giving them advantages not available to others. This sounds straightforward, but the reality is not. […]
European Union
Current EU Structural Funds programming period to be last for Lithuania, PM says
Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius says that the European Union Structural Funds programming period for 2014-2020 will most likely be the last one for Lithuania, therefore funds should be allocated to improve economic and business conditions in the country’s regions. […]
European Union
EU will not extend milk quotas, Lithuanian PM says
Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius says it is unrealistic to expect that European milk quota regime will be extended, but Lithuanian farmers can expect greater direct payments in the future. […]
Opinion
Opinion: Putin’s party paid for by oil money (I)
On 26 March, fifteen years ago, Vladimir Putin was elected the president of Russia. The moment coincided with the start of a global oil price boom that brought billions in additional revenue to Russia. […]
Society
440 people asked for asylum in Lithuania in 2014
The number of asylum applicants in Lithuanian last year stood at 440, a 10 percent increase from 2013 with 400 applications. The applicants in Lithuania in 2014 accounted for 0.1 percent asylum seekers in the European Union in total, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, reports. […]
Energy
Energy Union will strengthen Lithuania’s energy security, President Grybauskaitė says
EU leaders discussed the European Commission’s proposal for building an energy union, which aims to strengthen EU policies in five key areas – ensure transparent and secure energy supplies, complete the EU internal energy market, increase energy efficiency, promote innovations and pursue efforts for more renewable energies. […]
European Union
EU to work out plan by June against Russian “disinformation campaigns”
The European Union‘s (EU) institutions intend to work out a strategic communication plan by June to “challenge Russia‘s ongoing disinformation campaigns”, heads of EU states and governments have agreed in Brussels. […]
Uncategorized
EU ambassador to Moscow: “I’m not in the business of prophecies”
The task of a diplomat is to maintain contacts with the authorities and society leaders, so dribbling basketball with the administration chief of the Russian president, playing buskashi with Afghans in Kabul – engaging in what one might call “sport diplomacy” – is part of the job. While such informal contacts might provide a wealth of insights into the unofficial workings of a foreign country, Vygaudas Ušackas, the EU Delegation chief in Russia, admits he is not “in the business of prophecies” to tell how long the Russian-Ukrainian conflict can last. […]
European Union
EU to keep sanctions on Russia
European Union leaders have decided to maintain economic sanctions on Russia until the end of the year. […]
European Union
Energy, economy and information security to dominate European Council agenda
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė has left for Brussels to attend a European Council meeting on 19-20 March, the presidential press service reports. […]
Politics
Gabrielius Landsbergis – rising conservative star powered by recognizable name and tough stance on Russia
When Gabrielius Landsbergis, 33, breathed his way last summer into the European Parliament, for many the success of his campaign seemed to have much to do with his family lineage – namely, his legendary grandfather, patriarch of Lithuania’s modern politics Vytautas Landsbergis. […]
European Union
EU must maintain ambitious Eastern Partnership agenda, Lithuanian foreign minister insists
At the Foreign Affairs Council meeting on 16 March in Brussels, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius, while speaking about the upcoming Eastern Partnership Summit on 21-22 May 2015, noted that it was important to set a strategic direction for Eastern Partnership and take a further step forward from the Warsaw and Vilnius Summits, Lithuania’s MFA said. […]
European Union
Lithuanian president’s adviser: EU should avoid giving impression of retreat under Russian pressure
The forthcoming EU Eastern Partnership summit in Riga should not leave an impression that the EU is stepping back from its commitments to partners under Russia’s pressure, says Jovita Neliupšienė, chief adviser to Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė on foreign policy issues. […]
European Union
Lithuanian foreign minister hopes for expansion of EU’s Russia sanctions
Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius hopes the existing sanctions against individual sectors of the Russian economy will be expanded. […]
Global LT
Top young professionals returning to build Lithuania
Lithuania became a member of the European Union in 2004, and since that year almost 470,000 people have emigrated from the country. Now, many of the so-called “generation of independence” – the first generation of Lithuanians to be born after the collapse of the Soviet Union – are returning. And, with their degrees from prestigious universities and their experience working in international companies and organisations, they are having a big impact. […]
Culture
Kaunas interwar architecture awarded European Heritage Label
The European Union has awarded a European Heritage Label to the modern interwar architecture of Kaunas, Lithuania’s second-largest city. The decision was announced in the Official Journal of the European Union. […]
Energy
Lithuania very close to 2020 renewable energy targets
Lithuania is less than 0.5 percentage points from its 2020 renewable energy consumption targets, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, reports. […]
European Union
Lithuanian energy minister: Vision of Energy Union meets our interests
Last week, Lithuanian Minister of Energy Rokas Masiulis participated in the EU Energy Council in Brussels, dedicated to the discussion of the major goals to be pursued by the EU through the establishment of the Energy Union, the ministry reports. […]