Dalia Grybauskaitė to hand over the EU Presidency to Greece President Dalia Grybauskaitė has departed for Athens. She will hold meetings with Greek President Karolos Papoulias and Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. More...

Closing Conference of the European Year of Citizens 2013 “How to make every year a year for citizens!” On 21 November 2012, the European Parliament and Council of the European Union declared 2013 the European Year of Citizens to promote discussions regarding EU citizenship. The goal of the European Year of Citizens is to increase awareness and knowledge of EU citizenship-related rights and duties. More...

Eastern Partnership gains new impetus President Dalia Grybauskaitė together with the leaders of the EU and Eastern Partnership countries issued a declaration specifying the progress achieved in the past two years and setting further guidelines for the programme. More...

Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius begins At the beginning of the Vilnius Summit, President Dalia Grybauskaitė participated in a coordination meeting with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, European Commission Vice-President Catherine Ashton and Commissioner for Enlargement Štefan Füle to discuss the common EU position on the prospects of the Eastern Partnership programme and the situation in Ukraine. More...

The VIALITHUANIA Interactive Programme will help Europe discover Lithuania and Lithuania discover Europe The VIALITHUANIA interactive programme presenting Lithuania’s connections to EU countries was created under the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. This interactive programme reveals historic and cultural relations of Lithuania to the 27 countries of the EU. More...

Linas Linkevičius and Štefan Füle: Western Balkans and Turkey: new opportunities for EU enlargement Few months ago the European Union grew again. Croatia became the 28th member state. This new enlargement showed once again that the EU project does not stop, nor slows down. It also underlined the credibility of the enlargement policy under which the countries are admitted after they delivered on the necessary criteria. The agenda of the Lithuanian Presidency in this semester is a good proof of the determination to keep this policy going. More...

First Union–wide list of energy infrastructure projects will be presented in Vilnius On 4-5 November in Vilnius, at the high level conference, “Completing the Internal Energy Market: Building an Integrated European Energy Network”, the list of Projects of Common Interest that had been officially proposed on 14 October will be presented by the European Commission. The list aims to ensure the implementation of the energy infrastructure projects necessary for the EU internal market. More...

Lithuanian EU Presidency tasks – on the European Council agenda President Dalia Grybauskaitė has departed for Brussels where she will attend a European Council meeting. The main focus of the meeting will be on one of Lithuania's EU Presidency priorities - progress towards completing the EU digital single market. European leaders will discuss how to promote innovations, advance electronic trading, improve business environment in the cyberspace and attract larger investments, as well as to foster digital skills of European citizens. More...

Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vytautas Leškevičius: approval of the EU Multiannual budget is the key task of the EU Council and Parliament On 22 October, Vice-Minister Leškevičius presented the Lithuanian Presidency’s midterm results at the EP Conference of Committee Chairs, and stressed that the approval of the EU multiannual budget remaines the most important task. He also expressed hope that the EP would vote on this matter during the coming plenary session. More...

Eastern Partnership Youth Forum starts in Kaunas On 22–25 October, the most important event dedicated to youth of the Lithuanian Presidency of the EU Council – the Eastern Partnership Youth Forum – is take place in Kaunas. Two-hundred youth leaders, employees of youth organizations, and representatives of youth policy from the EU programme Youth in Action and six Eastern Partnership countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine – will participate in the Forum. More...