IN THIS ISSUE:
VILNIUS, Aug 27, BNS – The following events are scheduled in Lithuania for Wednesday, August 28.
PRESIDENT Gitanas Nauseda to pay a visit to France.
SPEAKER OF THE SEIMAS Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen to meet with members of a delegation from the US Congress a 2 p.m.
THE DEFENSE MINISTRY
Commander of Germany's Field Army Maj Gen Harald Gante's meeting with media representatives in Rukla at 1.20 p.m.
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VILNIUS, Aug 28, BNS – Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda will attend the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games in Paris as part of his visit to France on Wednesday, his office has confirmed to BNS.
A more detailed schedule of the president's visit is expected to be announced later.
Lithuania's Paralympic team is made up of nine athletes: shooter Raimeda Bucinskyte, swimmer Gabriele Cepaviciute, discus thrower Oksana Dobrovolskaja, track and field athletes Andrius Skuja, Ausra Garunksnyte, Donatas Dundzys and Eivyde Vainauskaite, swimmer Edgaras Matakas, and judo athlete Osvaldas Bareikis.
The Paris Summer Paralympics will take place from August 28 to September 8.
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VILNIUS, Aug 28, BNS – Germany's Field Army Commander Harald Gante is coming to Lithuania on Wednesday to inspect a Permanent Logistics Support Area under construction in Rukla for the German brigade.
This base will be used to store and maintain allied transport, equipment, weapons and supplies. Construction began in August 2022 and is planned to be completed in early 2025.
The Defense Ministry has said Gante will also visit NATO's enhanced Forward Presence Battalion Battle Group and German troops stationed in Rukla.
The Permanent Logistics Support Area project is funded by Berlin and developed by a German company, with 15 Lithuanian construction firms involved as subcontractors. The project is being implemented through the NATO Support and Procurement Agency.
In the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Vilnius and Berlin agreed on the permanent deployment of a German brigade in Lithuania.
The bulk of the brigade will be based at the Rudninkai training area in the eastern district of Salcininkai, with the remainder to be stationed in Rukla in the central district of Jonava.
Berlin plans to deploy the brigade by 2027. Germany has said the pace of the relocation will depend on Lithuania's readiness to host the troops and their families by creating the necessary conditions.
The brigade's initial command element arrived in Lithuania in early April.
The Lithuanian Defense Ministry estimates that investments in the military and training infrastructure needed to host the German brigade could reach 800 million euros.
Around 200 German troops are expected to arrive in Lithuania this year. Their number is expected to increase to 800 next year, with battalions likely to begin deployment in 2026.
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VILNIUS, Aug 28, BNS – The Board of the Seimas has decided to convene an extraordinary session of the parliament next Tuesday.
"I inform you that I am calling an extraordinary session on September 3," Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen, speaker of the parliament, said during the board's meeting on Wednesday.
The one-day session will consider MEP Andrius Kubilius' nomination for Lithuania's European commissioner.
Kubilius, a former prime minister, is being proposed for the post after President Gitanas Nauseda rejected the candidacy of Gabrielius Landsbergis, leader of the conservative Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian Democrats (HU-LCD).
Nauseda has already endorsed Kubilius' candidacy.
Kubilius, a HU-LCD member, was re-elected to the European Parliament for a second term this year,
The former prime minister, who has served as an MEP since 2019, is a strong advocate for closer ties between the EU and the Eastern Partnership countries, increased support for Ukraine, and a tougher stance toward the Kremlin.
Lithuania's candidate for the European Commission is formally proposed by the government, but the nomination requires approval from both the president and the Seimas.
The parliament's regular fall session is scheduled to open on September 10.
By Greta Zulonaitė
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VILNIUS, Aug 28, BNS – Speaker of the Lithuanian Seimas Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen, who also leads the Liberal Movement, part of the ruling bloc, says political parties will have to go back to the 2022 agreement on security and defense in order to define specific commitments on national defense funding.
This is necessary, she says, because the issue of funding will be relevant for a decade ahead and the ruling majority may change after the October general election.
"We will absolutely need to go back to the 2022 agreement on security and defense to supplement it, flesh it out and provide for measures that we can agree on on how we will increase defense funding in the longer term," Cmilyte-Nielsen told the Ziniu Radijas news radio on Wednesday.
"This issue will be relevant for more than one or two years. I would say for a decade ahead. That is why we need to maintain the consensus," she added.
The existing security and defense agreement does not include specific commitments on defense funding, but the Seimas decided earlier this year to raise some taxes to push it to least 3 percent of GDP.
With the additional funds, this year's national defense appropriations have already reached around 3.2 percent of GDP.
The current inter-party agreement on defense maintains the lower figures previously allocated.
Cmilyte-Nielsen agrees with Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis, leader of the ruling conservative Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats, that the forthcoming general election will decide whether Lithuania will fully maintain its pro-Western orientation, but urged the partners not to appropriate the label of a pro-Western party.
"It is also wrong for the HU-LCD to appropriate that pro-Western leadership… because then it would be very difficult to reach such a long-term consensus," the Seimas speaker said, also pointing out that parties are yet to sign an agreement on foreign policy.
The Seimas election will take place on October 13.
By Saulius Jakučionis
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VILNIUS, Aug 28, BNS – The Lithuanian government approved on Wednesday a proposal to increase the minimum monthly wage by 114 euros, or 12.34 percent, to 1,038 euros before tax in 2025.
The minimum hourly wage is set to rise to 6.35 euros before tax, from the current 5.65 euros.
"We propose to stick to this compromise option, based on the figures and economists' recommendations, and to keep the balance, increasing the wage as much as possible without negatively affecting employment," Social Security and Labor Minister Vytautas Silinskas told the Cabinet.
According to Silinskas, the ministry's proposed increase in minimum monthly wage is higher than that suggested by the central bank, which is due to Lithuania's improving economic outlook.
"We can see that Lithuania's economic development projections and forecasts for wages and economic growth next year are improving. That's why we are proposing a 12 percent increase instead of 10 percent," he said.
The Tripartite Council, which brings together representatives from the government, employers and trade unions, agreed back in 2017 on a formula for increasing the minimum monthly wage, which has proved successful and has helped reduce income inequality, according to the minister.
In June, the Tripartite Council failed to reach a consensus on the minimum wage increase for 2025, with trade unions proposing a 15.7 percent hike to 1,070 euros and business groups suggesting a 10 percent increase to 1,016 euros.
With the social partners unable to agree, the government made a unilateral decision.
The Social Security and Labor Ministry estimates that the minimum wage increase will cost the state an additional 53 million euros next year and another 55 million euros in 2026.
According to the state social insurance fund Sodra, about 110,000 people, or 9 percent of the total workforce, earn the minimum monthly wage, which currently stands at 924 euros, or 45 percent of the average wage.
Editor: Roma Pakėnienė
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VILNIUS, Aug 28, BNS - Vilnius Regional Court has postponed the hearing of a lawsuit by a group of companies owned by BaltCap, a Lithuanian investment company, against its former partner Sarunas Stepukonis and Interactive Brokers Central Europe, a Hungarian-based US securities trading platform, for two months after it was due to start hearing the merits of the claim on Wednesday.
The court hearing is now scheduled for October 24, according to the court information system Liteko. According to information available to BNS, the decision was made because the issue of jurisdiction has only been resolved in the court of first instance and has not yet come into force.
In May, Vilnius Regional Court ruled that the lawsuit should be heard in Lithuania, not Hungary, and Interactive Brokers Central Europe later appealed, but neither the appeal hearing date, not the judge have been appointed yet.
The regional court judge also ordered the hearing to be held behind closed-doors, so the announcement of the final ruling may take time or it may not be made public at all.
Lithuania's Zvirgzdaiciu Energija and Nullus, as well as Poland's En Efficiency, filed their lawsuit in February, seeking 5.485 million euros in damages from Stepukonis and Interactive Brokers. In February, a court temporarily seized Stepukonis' assets worth this amount and banned him from accessing his accounts.
In February, a court temporarily seized Stepukonis' assets of the same value and banned him from accessing his accounts, including Interactive Brokers accounts.
The hearing on the merits of a separate lawsuit filed by Zvirgzdaiciu Energija, Nullus and Moelta, seeking the return of tens of millions of euros gambled away by Stepukonis has not yet started as well. It was filed against Lithuania's gambling company Olympic Casino and its Estonian shareholder OB Holding 1. The claimants are seeking the return of 26 million euros worth of financial assets and are also seeking damages.
So far, courts have only decided where the case should be heard, in Lithuania or Estonia. In June, Lithuania's Court of Appeal ruled that the lawsuit should be heard in Lithuania, and the hearings will also be closed to the public. Vilnius Regional Court has not yet set a hearing date, according to the Liteko system.
Stepukonis is suspected of embezzling at least 27 million euros from the BaltCap Infrastructure Fund companies, but according to prosecutors, this amount could be higher. BaltCap representatives estimate that around 40 million euros may have disappeared from the fund's companies.
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VILNIUS, Aug 28, BNS - Vilnius City Council on Wednesday abolished the name of Soviet-era writer Petras Cvirka's square in the Lithuanian capital.
The issue was supposed to be resolved in mid-June, but the meeting was interrupted when the opposition refused to participate.
On Wednesday, councilors decided only on the abolition of the square's name. The new name will be proposed once a concept for the upgrade of the site has been prepared.
In early January, the so-called Desovietization Commission, which assesses Soviet-era public signs and symbols, decided that Cvirka Square promotes a totalitarian regime and should be renamed.
Cvirka's monument was removed from the square in 2021.
A special commission of experts concluded that Cvirka was an active participant in an electoral farce organized by the occupying Soviet authorities, a member of the Lithuanian Communist Party, a deputy of the People's Seimas elected on the basis of rigged election results, and secretary of its presidium (in June-July 1940).
From 1940, the first Soviet occupation, he supported it, praised the Soviet government, the army and its leader Joseph Stalin, and remained a member of the presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union until his death in 1947. In addition to his political duties, he was also the chairman of the Lithuanian Writers' Union in 1945-1947.
The ban on the promotion of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes and their ideologies has been in force in Lithuania since May 2023. It requires the removal of symbols of totalitarianism and authoritarianism from public spaces, such as monuments, the names of streets, squares and other public objects, and other symbols.
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VILNIUS, Aug 28, BNS - Vilnius councilors on Wednesday green-lighted proposals to install memorial plaques to Aloyzas Sakalas and Kazimieras Motieka, signatories of the Act of March 11, 1990 on the Re-establishment of the State of Lithuania (the Lithuanian Act of Independence).
Sakalas died two years ago, and Motieka passed away three years ago.
Sakalas was as a member of the Supreme Council-Reconstituent Seimas from 1990 to 1992, and later served as a member of the Seimas from 1992 to 2004 and a MEP from 2004 to 2009.
Motieka was an active member of the Sajudis (National Revival) movement. He founded the first Lithuanian lawyers' support group for the Lithuanian Sajudis and was elected to the Sajudis Council.
In 1989, Motieka delivered a speech during the 2nd Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR at the Kremlin in Moscow and for the first time in 50 years of Lithuania's Soviet occupation he officially demanded the return of Lithuania's state independence.
By Greta Zulonaitė
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VILNIUS, Aug 28, BNS – Vilnius will rename several streets named after Soviet writers, the Lithuanian capital's authorities decided on Wednesday.
The street named after poet Salomeja Neris will be renamed Vetrunges Street, while the street named after writer Liudas Gira will be renamed after Lionginas Baliukevicius-Dzukas, a partisan leader, after these street names were chosen by Vilnius residents who took part in a municipal survey.
The name change is part of the ongoing desovietization of public spaces. The country's Desovietization Commission has recognized that the names of the two streets in question violate the ban on the promotion of authoritarian and totalitarian regimes.
Gira and Neris both praised the Soviet government in their works. In 1940, as delegates to the so-called People's Seimas, they and other representatives went to Moscow to ask for Lithuania's admission into the Soviet Union.
However, some literary and other researchers stress, in Neris' defense, the importance of her work for Lithuanian literature and collective memory, and point out to her later repentance for her collaboration with the Soviet authorities.
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VILNIUS, Aug 28, BNS – The final batch of 22 anti-drones purchased with funds raised through the Radarom! crowdfunding campaign in Lithuania was delivered to Ukraine on Wednesday, Blue/Yellow said.
The Vilnius-based NGO said that 284 Brolis kits, consisting of night vision monoculars and laser sights, were also handed over to the troops, adding that another 303 night vision monoculars and laser sights have yet to be delivered,
"The generosity of the Lithuanian people and businesses in donating to Radarom has enabled us to save the lives of several Ukrainian soldiers, and this money stays in Lithuania because we chose Lithuanian suppliers," Blue/Yellow Director Laura Paukštė said in a press release.
"I thank the manufacturers who worked tirelessly to speed up production so we could deliver as many kits as possible to the front," she added.
The Radarom! campaign raised a total of 8.56 million euros, which were used to purchase 1,141 safe soldier kits.
The equipment in the kits is produced by Lithuania's Brolis Semiconductors and NT Service. Each kit costs 7,500 euros.
The four-week crowdfunding campaign was organized by the public broadcaster LRT in cooperation with the organizations Blue/Yellow, Laisves TV (Freedom TV) and Stiprus Kartu (Stronger Together), and journalist Rita Miliute.
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RUKLA, Lithuania, Aug 28, BNS - German Field Army Commander Harald Gante, who is visiting Lithuania on Wednesday, says that the infrastructure for the German brigade assigned to Lithuania is being put in place smoothly, adding that any backup plan would be considered if the main plan fails.
German media reported earlier that Vilnius had informed Berlin that the infrastructure required for stationing the brigade would not be ready on time, so the final deployment might be delayed until the end of 2028 or early 2029.
Lithuanian officials, however, say things are progressing according to schedule, and that if anything fails to be built on time, the brigade would be temporarily handed over the existing military infrastructure used by Lithuanian troops.
Gante says the Field Army now has no information that Lithuania might not put the necessary infrastructure on time.
"I will start to think about Plan B if Plan A doesn't work. So one step after the other," he told reporters in Rukla. "We do not have any information that Plan A will not work at the moment. But we have to be flexible at the end of the day."
Rukla-based German soldiers serving within the NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battalion have nothing to complain about, Gante says, adding that the main goal is not to create "great living conditions" for the planned brigade.
"We have both a common objective. And it's not to have great living conditions here in Lithuania, it's about deterrence, and it's about Russia. And we must be able to station a German armored brigade here in Lithuania in order to ensure the freedom of the Western nations and that's what it is about," Gante underlined.
During his visit to Rukla, the commander inspected a Permanent Logistics Support Area under construction in Rukla for the German brigade.
This base will be used to store and maintain allied transport, equipment, weapons and supplies. Construction began in August 2022 and is planned to be completed in early 2025.
The Permanent Logistics Support Area project is funded by Berlin and developed by a German company, with 15 Lithuanian construction firms involved as subcontractors. The project is being implemented through the NATO Support and Procurement Agency.
In the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Vilnius and Berlin agreed on the permanent deployment of a German brigade in Lithuania.
The bulk of the brigade will be based in the Rudninkai training area in the eastern district of Salcininkai, with the remainder to be stationed in Rukla in the central district of Jonava.
Berlin plans to deploy the brigade by 2027. Germany has said the pace of the relocation will depend on Lithuania's readiness to host the troops and their families by creating the necessary conditions.
The brigade's initial command element arrived in Lithuania in early April.
The Lithuanian Defense Ministry estimates that investments in the military and training infrastructure needed to host the German brigade could reach 800 million euros.
Around 200 German troops are expected to arrive in Lithuania this year. Their number is expected to increase to 800 next year, with battalions likely to begin deployment in 2026.
By Dominykas Biržietis
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VILNIUS, Aug 28, BNS – All branches of the Lithuanian Armed Forces will be equipped with first-person view (FPV) drones, Defense Minister Laurynas Kasciunas said on Wednesday.
"We've decided to buy FPV drones for all branches of the military," Kasciunas said at the Pabrade training area after he and Chief of Defense Lieutenant General Raimundas Vaiksnoras presented plans for the acquisition and integration of drones.
"This will include integrating the National Defense Volunteer Force, the Military Academy and the General Povilas Plechavicius Cadet Lyceum to create a drone ecosystem within our armed forces," the minister said.
"By the end of this year, FPV drones will be in our troops' hands," he added.
The plans call for providing the Lithuanian Armed Forces with various types of unmanned aerial vehicles, including air and naval combat drones.
Acquisitions are planned for tactical and operational levels, reconnaissance, target identification and destruction.
"We can't lag behind (...). Previously, we had Chinese-made drones, but we realized that we aren't on the same path with them. We sent those drones to Ukraine and now need to fill that capability gap, which is what we are going to do," Vaiksnoras said.
In early August, the government allocated an additional 20 million euros to speed up the procurement of various types of unmanned aerial systems and to train their operators.
About 8 million euros is planned for purchasing small drones from the United States, 7.5 million euros for mini drones from Lithuanian companies, 3 million euros for micro FPV combat air drones, and 1 million euros for naval combat drones. Up to 500,000 euros is earmarked for further organizing drone training and establishing a drone competence center.
The plans also call for integrating maritime surface drones into the Navy.
"We've decided to build this capability. We'll test and evaluate; we have Lithuanian manufacturers and there are also companies from other countries that will allow us to see how drones perform in the Baltic Sea," Kasciunas said.
By 2025, Lithuania's industry is expected to have at least several new production lines for maritime drones.
In the first half of this year, the Defense Materiel Agency signed contracts for the purchase of brigade-level (small-class) reconnaissance drones from Latvia's Edge Autonomy, and mini-class reconnaissance drones from Estonia's Threod Systems, which are already being used by the State Border Guard Service.
A contract was also signed to buy micro-class (quadcopter) drones from Lithuania's Deftools.
Most of the drones are expected to be delivered this fall and the rest in early 2025.
The military has included unmanned aerial vehicle and anti-drone system training in the program for conscripts and is conducting UAV instructor courses for professional service members.
The integration of drone training into the conscript program began in early August. The instructor course started in late June, with the aim of training around 100-150 operators this year, according to the minister.
The Defense Ministry announced earlier this week that the Defense Materiel Agency is buying drones worth 8 million euros from five Lithuanian manufacturers.
The Lithuanian Armed Forces will receive more than 2,300 combat drones worth 3 million euros, and nearly 5,000 drones of the same type, worth 5 million euros, will be delivered to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Kasciunas said a total of around 56 million euros has been allocated for drone acquisitions this year.
By Paulius Perminas
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VILNIUS, Aug 28, BNS - Vilnius plans to launch a water transport service on the River Neris next year.
According to the local municipality, there are plans to integrate electric water transport into the Lithuanian capital's public transport system in three stages. During the first stage, electric boats will start taking passengers from central Vilnius to the Zirmunai area, and six piers will be installed.
The launch is scheduled for the summer of 2025.
The integration of this water transport link into the existing public transport system in Vilnius will create the possibility of getting off a boat and use the road transport system at one of the capital's largest public transport interchanges near the Green Bridge where around 36,000 trips are recorded per working day.
According to the municipality, this link will also provide residents and visitors with more convenient and faster access to business centers, museums and other attractions in the central part of the city.
One such trip will last around 45 minutes. Up to four electric boats will initially be deployed to provide the service between May and October.
During the second stage, the Zirmunai-Zverynas route will be expanded with the addition of six more stops. The third stage will include the Zverynas-Vingis Park link, with two additional stops.
The implementation of the second and third stages will depend on the timing of the installation of the necessary infrastructure and the technical feasibility of the relevant part of the River Neris.
According to the municipality, the integration of water transport is aimed at reducing car pollution in central Vilnius. The second and third stages would create a link to car parks planned by the municipality. Residents or visitors who will park their cars there would be able to continue their journey to the central part of the city using sustainable and environmentally friendly water transport.
A single boat ticket will cost 3 euros when purchased via mobile apps or the website, and 4 euros when purchased on board and paid by contactless payment (without discounts). A family ticket for two adults and up to three children (up to the age of 18) will cost 7 euros when purchased online and 9 euros when purchased on board.
Passengers will also be offers return tickets they will need to buy in advance for 5 euros.
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VILNIUS, Aug 29, BNS – The following events are scheduled in Lithuania for Thursday, August 29.
PRESIDENT Gitanas Nauseda to continue his visit to France.
FOREIGN MINISTER Gabrielius Landsbergis to attend an informal EU Foreign Council meeting in Brussels.
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IN THIS ISSUE:
VILNIUS, Jun 20, BNS – The following events are scheduled in Lithuania for Thursday, June 20, 2024:
PRESIDENT Gitanas Nauseda to meet with EU ambassadors accredited to Lithuania at 10 a.m.
FOREIGN MINISTER Gabrielius Landsbergis to meet with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan at 1.20 p.m., followed by a joint press conference.
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VILNIUS, Jun 20, BNS – Lithuanian border guards recorded no attempts to cross into the country from Belarus illegally for the third day in a row on Wednesday, the State Border Guard Service (SBGS) said on Thursday morning.
Latvia reported no attempts at illegal border crossings on Wednesday, too, and 62 irregular migrants were not allowed into Poland on Tuesday, according to the latest available information.
A total of 237 irregular migrants have been barred from entering Lithuania from Belarus at non-designated places so far this year.
The influx of irregular migrants to the EU's eastern member states from Belarus began in 2021 and is blamed by the West on the Minsk regime.
Almost 4,200 irregular migrants crossed into Lithuania from Belarus illegally in 2021. However, the vast majority of them fled Lithuania once they were allowed to move freely.
Lithuanian border guards have prevented a total of more than 22,000 people from crossing in from Belarus since August 3, 2021, when they were given the right to turn away irregular migrants. The number includes repeated attempts by the same people to cross the border.
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VILNIUS, Jun 20, BNS – Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis will meet with Ararat Mirzoyan, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, in Vilnius on Thursday.
According to the Foreign Ministry, the ministers will discuss cooperation between Lithuania and Armenia at bilateral and international level, the situation in Armenia, democratic reforms and the country's ambition to strengthen cooperation with the European Union (EU), as well as the situation in the South Caucasus and the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process.
Landsbergis and Mirzoyan will sign a memorandum of understanding between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania and Armenia on cooperation on EU-related issues.
During his visit to Lithuania, the Armenian minister will also meet with the Speaker of the Seimas of Lithuania, Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen.
In March, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called for a broad public dialogue on the possibility for the country to apply to join the European Union.
This is yet another sign that the country is moving further away from its traditional ally Russia.
Moscow's full-scale war in Ukraine has intensified the EU's drive for enlargement, and Brussels has recently finally given the green light to Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia to start the long journey towards joining the Community.
Yerevan has reached out to Western countries, in particular the US and France, to seek new security guarantees.
Russia has been the main mediator in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for decades, but in the last two years it has abandoned the area because of its war in Ukraine.
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VILNIUS, Jun 20, BNS – The Seimas of Lithuania on Thursday plans to adopt legislation on the establishment of a Defense Fund and on the taxes that will finance the new fund.
This will allow to allocate 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to defense.
The additional funds for defense are to be raised by increasing the corporate tax rate by one percentage point to 16 percent, by raising excise duties on all fuels, alcohol and tobacco, by imposing an annual contribution of 25 million euros on municipalities, and by introducing a levy on a part of insurance contracts.
The ruling coalition's desire to increase the contribution of local governments to defense funding has stirred the most controversy in the Seimas.
Finance Minister Gintare Skaiste on Tuesday asked lawmakers not to hold back the projects, promising to review the government's proposals to redistribute a part of the personal income tax funds allocated to local governments.
The Finance Ministry's proposal will be discussed by the Committees on Budget and Finance on Thursday before the plenary session.
The opposition does not agree that municipalities should receive less of the income tax proceeds; the Liberal Movement – part of the ruling coalition – has promised to oppose the proposal to increase the municipalities' contribution to the Defense Fund, while the third coalition partner, the Freedom Party, on the contrary, has proposed to increase it, because, according to the party’s MPs, the municipalities are expecting to receive 280 million euros in extra revenue this year, and their budgets have grown faster than the state's budget in the past few years.
The package also suggests lowering the annual income threshold, from 45,000 euros to 20,000 euros, for those working under a business license, which would result in higher taxes for some self-employed individuals.
The Seimas has already approved one initiative included in the package – a one-year extension of the temporary bank solidarity levy introduced last year.
The Defense Fund's solutions would provide additional funding of almost 298 million euros in 2025, more than 421 million euros in 2026, and almost 437 million euros in 2027.
Politicians in Lithuania want to boost defense funding to 3 percent of GDP to speed up the establishment of a military division, to host the German brigade assigned to Lithuania, which is expected to be stationed in the country by 2027, and to prepare for universal conscription.
Editor: Roma Pakėnienė
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VILNIUS, Jun 20, BNS - Two Airbus A340s belonging to Gambia's leasing company Macka Invest Company, which were due to fly from Siauliai to Sri Lanka and the Philippines in late February, ended up in Iran, the vz.kt business news website reports on Thursday.
Their transponders were switched off once they entered Iran. Shortly afterwards, the aviation data platform ch-aviation reported on its website that one aircraft landed at Tehran's Mehrabad airport and the other landed at the Konarak airport in Chabahar in the south of the country.
A few days later, Flightaware's aircraft tracking website reported that one of the planes was at Kabul airport in Afghanistan, and then ch-aviation's database reported that it was back in Iran.
According to vz.lt, Mahan Air, an aviation company operating in Iran, this way got two of its aircraft in circumvention of the existing US sanctions related to Iran's nuclear program.
A third aircraft belonging to Macka Invest Company remained in Siauliai, but according to Aurelija Kuezada, director of Siauliai Airport, it was not allowed to take off because of the spare parts it carried.
"The plane was due to fly to the Philippines, but we assume that it could have landed in Iran as well. And nothing could have prevented that. So we just didn't let it go when we found out that the first plane had landed in Iran," Kuezada said.
Oro Navigacija, Lithuania's state-owned navigation service provider, told the website that the three planes did not raise any suspicions and their movement outside Lithuanian airspace was whitin the competence of air navigation service providers in other countries, so the Lithuanian air transport administrator no longer had any influence.
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VILNIUS, Jun 20, BNS – Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda says he sees better candidates for the European Commission (EC) than Gabrielius Landsbergis, the leader of the ruling Homeland Union – Lithuanian Christian Democrats (HU-LCD) and Foreign Minister.
"I see better candidates, especially considering that this will not be a position of a foreign policy commissioner," Nauseda told the public broadcaster LRT's "Dienos Tema" (The Topic of the Day) on Wednesday.
The president said that Lithuania's desire to have a foreign policy-related post is ambitious.
“We want posts that are either economic or related to the enlargement of the European Union, and if the position of a defense commissioner is created, I think it would certainly be worth competing for it as well,” Nauseda said.
He noted, however, that the President of the European Commission had not yet been confirmed and that the likelihood that the current President of the EC, Ursula von der Leyen, would secure a second term was “not 100 percent”.
On Monday, Nauseda attended an informal EU summit in Brussels to discuss the distribution of key EU positions.
The president said after the summit that he would not be bypassed in negotiations on who Lithuania should delegate to the EC.
Landsbergis has been mentioned by the media and his fellow party members as one of the main candidates for a European commissioner.
The leader of the Conservatives has insisted he would not comment on these rumors and said that Lithuania is not late in confirming its candidate for the EU’s executive arm.
The minor partners in Lithuania's ruling coalition – the Freedom Party and the Liberal Movement – say they expect the main coalition party – the HU-LCD – to unveil its candidate for Lithuania's European commissioner soon and argue that any delay will leave the country with an unimportant portfolio.
According to them, Lithuania is already too late because other Baltic countries have confirmed their candidates – ex-Latvian PM Valdis Dombrovskis is expected to continue as an EC vice-president, while Estonian PM Kaja Kallas is tipped as the favorite for the position of EU foreign policy chief.
Landsbergis admits that he sees the need for the coalition to discuss the EC nomination, but notes that the coalition partners themselves do not raise the issue in their meetings.
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VILNIUS, Jun 20, BNS - There is no place for people of questionable reputation in the financial sector, Lithuanian Finance Minister Gintare Skaiste says as the country's law enforcement and supervisory authorities investigate the activities of Foxpay, a fintech company owned by Ieva Trinkunaite.
"The financial sector is an area that relies on consumer confidence, so in any case, people with questionable reputation have no place in this sector and the authorities will have to answer those questions," she told the Ziniu Radijas news radio on Thursday.
She hopes that the reputation of one company would not affect the fintech sector's whole ecosystem.
"We have really good examples of companies that are successful, reliable and provide a range of innovative services to consumers and create high value-added jobs," Skaiste pointed out.
Foxpay, which operates in the financial sector of strategic importance to national security, came under the scrutiny of the law enforcement authorities after the central Bank of Lithuania launched a review into the company's operations back in March to investigate possible breaches in its governance, the prevention of money laundering and the financing of terrorism, as well as the possible illegal activities of its customers and the handling of their funds.
The Special Investigation Service is also investigating possible non-transparent activities at Foxpay.
As BNS reported on Wednesday, Trinkunaite lied to the government commission that vets the transactions of strategic companies about her links with Vilhelmas Germanas (formerly known as Vilnius Zidelis), who has served time for financial crimes, in order to acquire Litlab, a company that manages an office building next to Vilnius Airport, from ex-minister Monika Navickiene's husband.
Moreover, Trinkunaite was found to have failed to cooperate properly with the Bank of Lithuania as it's carrying out a review of Foxpay's operations.
On June 5, based on the government commission's conclusion, the government found that Trinkunaite was not in line with the country's national security interests and determined that she had no right to attend and vote at the company's shareholders' meeting or to exercise any other non-proprietary rights of shareholders.
Trinkunaite' ties with Germanas cost Navickiene her post as she was forced to resign last week. Skaiste has been temporarily appointed to cover for her.
Editor: Roma Pakėnienė
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VILNIUS, Jun 20, BNS – Litgrid will hand autotransformers and other equipment worth more than 4 million euros over to Ukraine, the Lithuanian electricity transmission system operator said on Thursday.
“In preparation for synchronization with the continental European grid and modernization of our country's transmission lines and transformer substations, we are dismantling various substations, line equipment and materials that are no longer used in Litgrid's facilities but are in good condition,” a press release from Litgrid quoted its CEO, Rokas Masiulis, as saying.
According to the company, the Lithuanian and Ukrainian electricity systems use the same voltage, which are different from those used in many European countries. Therefore, the transformers and other substation equipment provided by Litgrid are suitable for the Ukrainian electricity transmission system.
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VILNIUS, Jun 20, BNS – The number of attempts to circumvent the existing Western sanctions against Russia and Belarus have increased fivefold over the past three months, from 74 in May to 14 in March, Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways, LTG), the country's state-owned railway group, says.
While the group is looking into the new trends, it cannot yet say why the number of attempts to circumvent them has increased so much, Gediminas Seckus the group's chief resilience officer, said.
He did not rule out the possibility that this is an attempt to test the effectiveness of sanction controls.
According to Egle Sime, CEO of LTG Cargo, the group's freight arm, 4 wagons were turned around at the border in March, 10 in April and 62 in May.
Most of the infringements were related to the transport of fuel or petroleum products. LTG Cargo did not approve a single application for transport to Russia or Kaliningrad in the three months.
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VILNIUS, Jun 20, BNS – The process of European unification must be completed after the enlargement of the European Union (EU), Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said on Thursday after a meeting with the ambassadors of the EU countries accredited to Lithuania.
The Lithuanian leader met with the envoys to discuss the results of the Belgian Presidency of the EU Council, the current EU agenda, support to Ukraine, security and defense, and the new EU political cycle.
According to the president, the European Council decisions will be implemented on June 25, when negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova on their accession to the EU will kick off.
Kyiv and Chisinau applied for EU membership shortly after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“Europe is at an important juncture in its history. The fight for freedom and European values is taking place on our doorstep and the future of Europe is being decided. The results of the European Parliament elections point to the changing mood of EU citizens, which we must reflect in our decisions – in the EU's strategic agenda to build a strong, competitive and democratic Europe,” a press release from the presidential office quoted Nauseda as saying.
Speaking about the results of the Ukraine Peace Conference held in Switzerland last weekend, the Lithuanian leader said that it is the collective duty of the allies to demonstrate full solidarity with Ukraine and to support it until victory.
He also stressed the importance of effective military assistance to Ukraine and the need to make and implement decisions on assistance in a timely manner.
The president told EU ambassadors that Europe must strengthen its defense capabilities, increase investment in the defense industry and develop new financing instruments.
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VILNIUS, Jun 20, BNS – Lithuanian lawmakers on Thursday backed President Gitanas Nauseda's nomination of Brigadier General Raimundas Vaiksnoras as the country's next chief of defense after 110 MPs unanimously voted in favor.
Vaiksnoras is set to assume his new position for five years on July 24.
According to the Constitution, the president appoints and dismisses the chief of defense with the Seimas' approval. In Lithuania, the chief of defense is appointed for five years.
Vaiksnoras is currently serving as deputy chief of staff for military training at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE).
His has in the past served as commander of the Lithuanian Land Force, the force's deputy chief of staff for operations, chief of the Operations Department at the Defense Staff, and commander of the Iron Wolf brigade.
By Jūratė Skėrytė
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VILNIUS, Jun 20, BNS – The Seimas of Lithuania on Thursday adopted a package of the so-called defense taxes, initiated to increase the funding of national defense to 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
To achieve this goal, the parliament increased the corporate tax rate and excise duties on alcohol, cigarettes and fuel, and adopted the so-called Defense Fund Law.
The Seimas also decided that local governments would contribute 25 million euros annually to civil protection projects from their share of personal income tax proceeds.
The Defense Fund will be used to accumulate funds to cover the most urgent needs of priority national defense capabilities and civil protection reinforcement.
The law establishing the fund was adopted in a vote of 107 to two with 18 abstentions.
“This is the best investment in peace,” Finance Minister Gintare Skaiste said.
She stressed that “there is a strong signal” that there is political support for such defense funding.
“This year we will be able to take decisions on acquisitions, to allocate money for advance payments,” the minister added.
Amendments to the Law on Excise Duties, which would increase taxes on alcohol and smokes, were adopted in a vote of 116 to zero with five abstentions.
The excise duty rates on alcoholic beverages and tobacco products set by the Seimas will apply from 2025 to 2027.
Excise duties on fuel were increased shortly afterwards, with 67 MPs voting in favor. Annual increases in some of these excise duties are foreseen until 2028-2030.
As proposed by the government, the Seimas increased the corporate tax rate by one percentage point to 16 percent. For small businesses, it would rise by the same margin, i.e. by one point to 6 percent.
The respective amendment to the Law on Corporate Income Tax was adopted in a vote of 118 to two with eight abstentions.
However, the parliament did not support the proposal by Lukas Savickas and Algirdas Butkevicius of the Democrats “For Lithuania” to increase the corporate tax rate to 17 percent.
Economy and Innovation Minister Ausrine Armonaite said that an even higher corporate tax rate would be detrimental to economic growth.
“Let's protect our investment climate,” she said.
As decided by the Seimas, 4.1 percent of excise revenue will be transferred to the Defense Fund in 2025, 7.1 percent in 2026, and 7.4 percent in 2027 and beyond.
Also on Thursday, the MPs did not approve a proposal by the Farmers and Greens Union to transfer 80 percent of the Bank of Lithuania's profits for the years 2024-2026 to the Defense Fund.
Politicians in Lithuania want to boost defense funding to speed up the establishment of a military division, to host the German brigade assigned to Lithuania, which is expected to be stationed in the country by 2027, and to prepare for universal conscription.
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VILNIUS, Jun 20, BNS – The Bank of Lithuania has restricted access to its CENTROlink payment system for the financial technology company Foxpay, which has come under the scrutiny of law enforcement.
According to the central bank, the restrictions do not apply to the company's payments related to the public sector.
“The Bank of Lithuania has not disconnected Foxpay from the CENTROlink system. In accordance with the CENTROlink regulation and in order to protect the public interest, the Bank of Lithuania has currently partially restricted the rights of Foxpay to submit payment orders and receive transfers through the CENTROlink payment system operated by the Bank of Lithuania," the central bank said in comments sent to BNS on Thursday.
CENTROlink is a payment system operated by the Bank of Lithuania, providing the gateway to the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).
Via its infrastructure, the Bank of Lithuania provides technical access to SEPA for all types of payment service providers (PSPs) – banks, specialized banks, credit unions, electronic money or payment institutions – licensed in the European Economic Area (EEA).
The central bank has been carrying out an unscheduled inspection of Foxpay and its owner Ieva Trinkunaite since mid-March.
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VILNIUS, Jun 20, BNS – E-voting cannot be introduced in Lithuania until 100 percent security is guaranteed, Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte says.
"The main question is security, and as long as it’s impossible to answer that security question 100 percent, that it is 100 percent secure, secret, but secure, then I think experiments in this area would be simply dangerous for democracy," she told reporters at the Seimas on Thursday.
The Central Electoral Commission presented a feasibility study on Wednesday, showing that there is a possibility of introducing an e-voting information system in Lithuania, but it is recommended to do so after minimizing social and technological risks.
"I believe this is a question for future generations, not for future governments," Simonyte said, adding that any e-voting system must ensure both data security and voting secrecy.
"To be honest, I am not the best expert on IT security, but I have not seen any experts who assure me that it is possible to meet both requirements simultaneously. And that is probably the main problem," the prime minister said.
Given that all democracies are now targeted by regimes that use information systems to wreak havoc, steal or falsify data, the issue of security in the current geopolitical context is crucial, Simonyte pointed out.
In her words, the experience of other countries shows that e-voting does not encourage voter turnout.
Carried out by Civitta, the e-voting feasibility study also concludes that the implementation of an e-voting project in Lithuania "creates more risks than benefits". These include the geopolitical situation and the loss of electoral legitimacy in the event of a cyber attack, as well as the public's lack of trust in public authorities and information systems due to misinformation.
Technological risks include the possibility of leakage and distortion of voting data, even with the most advanced ballot encryption technologies.
A market survey carried out during the study showed that the development, implementation and maintenance of an e-voting system from 2025 to 2038 would cost the state about 20 million euros. The report authors recommend acquiring a system already existing abroad and adapt it to Lithuania's needs.
By Jūratė Skėrytė
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VILNIUS, Jun 20, BNS – Lithuania’s so-called de-sovietization commission is calling on the country's three district municipalities – Telsiai, Akmene and Radviliskis – to change the names of streets named after Soviet-era writer Salomeja Neris, but to keep the name in her hometown of Vilkaviskis.
“The overall assessment remains unchanged, but we have additionally adopted a recommendation to keep the name of the street [in Vilkaviskis], with an explanatory plate saying that this is her birthplace,” Vitas Karciauskas, Chairman of the Inter-institutional Commission for the Assessment of the Compliance of Public Places with the Prohibition of the Promotion of Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes and Their Ideologies in Public Places, told BNS on Thursday.
“As far as the other towns are concerned, it [the name of the street] should still be changed, it is enough that one main town has a street named after her,” he added.
At the same time, the commission recommended changing the names of other streets named after Neris in Vilkaviskis District.
The commission also proposes to change the names of the streets named after Petras Cvirka, a writer and Soviet activist, in the municipalities of Vilkaviskis, Jurbarkas, Telsiai, Akmene and Sirvintos Districts.
According to Karciauskas, the municipality of Zarasai District has been recommended to remove the monument of a Russian soldier with a rifle, which is located at the burial site of Soviet soldiers from the Second World War in the town of Turmantas.
The law prohibiting the promotion of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes and their ideologies in public places came into force in Lithuania in May 2023. The law bans any form of commemoration or representation of persons, symbols, information propagating totalitarian or authoritarian regimes and their ideologies.
By Greta Zulonaitė
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VILNIUS, Jun 20, BNS - Lithuania supports the Armenian government's reforms and closer cooperation with the European Union, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told a joint press conference in Vilnius on Thursday after meeting with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan.
"We support the government's turn to the path of European integration and its ambition to strengthen the resilience of the country and its society, and we welcome Armenia's bold steps in this direction," Landsbergis told the press conference.
"We are convinced that reforms and rapid rapprochement with the EU will best ensure Armenia's independence, security and economic prosperity," he said.
Landsbergis also is in favor of the EU's stronger role in Armenia and strengthening the EU's expertise and financial support for reforms in the country.
For his part, the Armenian minister said that despite the existing difficult circumstances, Yerevan had taken all necessary measures to implement its "ambitious reform agenda".
In his words, Armenia is strengthening its cooperation with the EU and is working together on the development of a national resilience plan and a new cooperation agenda.
Landsbergis and Mirzoyan also signed a memorandum of understanding between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania and Armenia on cooperation on EU-related issues.
In March, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called for a broad public dialogue on the possibility for the country to apply to join the European Union.
This is yet another sign that the country is moving further away from its traditional ally Russia.
Moscow's full-scale war in Ukraine has intensified the EU's drive for enlargement, and Brussels has recently finally given the green light to Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia to start the long journey towards joining the Community.
Yerevan has reached out to Western countries, in particular the US and France, to seek new security guarantees.
Russia has been the main mediator in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict for decades, but in the last two years it has abandoned the area because of its war in Ukraine.
By Vilmantas Venckūnas
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VILNIUS, Jun 20, BNS – Gediminas Pridotkas, a former director of Lithuania's National Food and Veterinary Risk Assessment Institute, has been found guilty of taking more than 300,000 euros of bribes, as well as of illegal enrichment and other crimes.
Pridotkas was sentenced to two years in prison, fined 18,000 euros and banned from holding any public office for five years. The verdict can still be appealed to the Lithuanian Court of Appeal.
The former civil servant was also found guilty of falsifying documents, fraudulent book-keeping and money laundering.
Pridotkas was found guilty of using a legal entity he set up with his wife, and 15 other related companies, to accept bribes from natural persons in return for favorable treatment during future public procurement tender conducted by the institute he then managed, the Special Investigation Service said.
A total of 23 people have been prosecuted in this case including Pridotkas' wife Evelina Pridotkiene, former interim director of the Department of Drugs, Tobacco and Alcohol Control. The total amount of fines imposed on them amounts to more than 77,000 euros, and 60,000 euros was confiscated during the process.
The National Food and Veterinary Risk Assessment Institute is the State Food and Veterinary Service's subordinate body that carries out risk assessment functions and laboratory tests in the areas of food and feed safety, quality and veterinary medicine.
The investigation was supervised by the European Public Prosecutor's Office.
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VILNIUS, Jun 20, BNS - The Seimas of Lithuania on Thursday introduced an annual 40,000 quota for third-country nationals coming to work in Lithuania with the aim of restricting the level of how much workforce employers can bring in each year.
87 lawmakers voted in favor of the quota, one was against and eight abstained.
"We will have a real quota that will allow us to ensure that all workforce migration processes will be better controlled in Lithuania," Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite told lawmakers on Thursday.
The quota would amount to about 40,000 persons, or up to 1.4 percent of the number of permanent residents in Lithuania in July 2022.
Lawmakers also tightens the conditions for the employment of foreigners, requirements for companies, and the procedure for issuing temporary residence permits in Lithuania, the minister added.
"When tackling labor shortages, we certainly cannot overlook threats to our national security and prevent abuse of migration procedures," Bilotaite said.
The new quota will only apply to newcomers. Bilotaite says the quota was calculated after assessing the authorities' capacity to monitor compliance and the needs of the country's labor market.
Editor: Roma Pakėnienė
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VILNIUS, Jun 21, BNS – The following events are scheduled in Lithuania for Friday, June 21, 2024:
DEFENSE MINISTER Laurynas Kasciunas and US Ambassador to Lithuania Kara C. McDonald to visit the US troops stationed in Pabrade at 10 a.m.
HEALTH MINISTER Health Arunas Dulkys to attend a meeting of the EU's Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council in Luxembourg.
JUSTICE MINISTER Ewelina Dobrowolska to attend an official reception at the US Embassy in Vilnius at 1 p.m.
By Vilmantas Venckūnas
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