Coordination of European Union Affairs in Lithuania
As a member state of the European Union, Lithuania has to ensure that legal acts, adopted by the EU institutions, reflect interests of Lithuania, and these legal acts are properly implemented in Lithuania. To achieve this, a system of EU affairs coordination has been established.
Preparation of Lithuanian positions
EU deals with a wide range of issues, and draft EU legislation is often related to several spheres. Lithuania has to ensure fast and efficient cooperation among various state institutions in order to take into account the opinion and needs of all likely to be affected by the new legislation. Parliament (Seimas), the President, and the Government with its different ministries take part in the process.
The preparation of positions is a process when draft EU legislation is being discussed nationally. A position is drawn up by a responsible institution in accordance with Lithuanian national interests, approved by the Government, forwarded to the Seimas and later sent to the Lithuanian representatives in the European Union. Lithuanian representatives negotiate in appropriate EU format for the text of EU legislation which would reflect Lithuanian position.
Coordination of preparation of positions
The main role in co-ordinating the preparation of positions in Lithuania is played by the Government, which follows a number of key principles:
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible for overall coordination of preparatory process. It supervises the discipline of the process and the quality of positions. European law department under Ministry of Justice coordinates the work of implementation of EU legislation.
- Ministerial responsibility for the preparation of the position and centralized supervision. This means that the positions under discussion in the EU institutions are drawn up, coordinated with other ministries and institutions as well as with social-economic partners by relevant ministry or state institution.
- Early and active involvement in the EU law-making process. Lithuanian positions for all proposed EU legislation must be prepared within 15 working days from the date of the submission of the proposal to the responsible Lithuanian institution. Later, when considering the document (in the meetings of COREPER, Council of the EU) positions are updated.
- Two main forums are devoted for discussing the Lithuanian positions in the Government – the weekly meetings of the Governmental commission on the EU affairs and Government meetings. If necessary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs organises special co-ordination meetings on exceptionally important questions Lithuanian positions regarding the issues discussed in the Council of European Union are presented by responsible ministers during the meetings of the parliamentary European Affairs Committee and/or Foreign Affairs Committee.
Detailed rules of coordination of EU affairs are laid down by decision no. 21 of the Government of Lithuania of 9 January 2004. Text of the rules with amendments of 9 December 2009 can be consulted here (in Lithuanian only). These rules can be visualised as follows:
Priorities
Issues of major importance to Lithuania are enumerated in the annual report of the most important questions of Lithuanian EU policy that is renewed by the Government every year according to the work programmes of the European Commission and Council. It attempts to suggest possible Lithuanian position and a roadmap for further actions in each case. The Commission’s initiatives may be considered important or highly important if they are likely to cause significant changes in the status quo of a particular EU policy. Other criteria are also taken into account:
- Issues that are important for the economic and social development of Lithuania, provision of welfare, and the implementation of foreign policy priorities;
- Issues that may cause undesirable political, economic or social consequences on the macroeconomic level or for separate interest groups;
- The implementation of the proposed decision may cause great difficulties to Lithuania;
- Issues that comprise sensitive areas to Lithuania where it is difficult to anticipate the impact of the initiative.
Information management system LINESIS
On average, almost 100 documents are received from the EU institutions every day. The proper management of incoming information is a considerable load for the Lithuanian Government. The flow of documents is managed by a special information system of the Lithuanian membership in the EU – LINESIS. It is designed to register and administer EU documents, to facilitate work on draft Lithuanian positions among institutions, and to co-ordinate the transfer of EU law into Lithuanian national legislation.
In addition, there is a ‘mirror’ version of LINESIS designed for the social-economic partners. Public information related to the received EU documents and Lithuanian positions is announced in this information system. Thus the partners can see the documents and what institutions are responsible for drawing up the Lithuanian position; they may contact the appropriate ministries and other institutions in order to cooperate or to influence the development of the position.
