A delegation of the European Parliament Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI), under the leadership of Vice-Chair of the Committee, Sebastian Valentin Bodu, will visit Lithuania.

Members of the European Parliament are interested in Lithuania’s priorities in civil and corporate law during its Presidency of the Council of the EU and the view of respective Committees of the Seimas concerning the European Commission’s initiatives in the area of justice.

On Wednesday, 17 July 2013 at 1.45 p.m., the delegation will meet with members of the Seimas Committee on Legal Affairs, the Committee on European Affairs, the Committee on Education, Science and Culture, and the Committee on Human Rights in the Press Conference Hall of the Seimas. The representatives of the Committees of the Seimas will present recent developments in the areas of their competence and the events of the parliamentary dimension of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU. Together with the Members of the European Parliament, they will discuss the following proposals of the European Commission: on the Common European Sales Law, on dispensing with the formalities for the legalisation of documents, the trademark revision package, and the amendments to the audit directive and regulation.   

The visit of the JURI Committee to Lithuania is scheduled for 16–18 July 2013. In addition to the meeting in the Seimas, the delegation plans to meet with President of the Republic, Dalia Grybauskaitė; Minister of Justice, Juozas Bernatonis; Minister of Economy, Evaldas Gustas; Minister of Culture, Šarūnas Birutis; Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Vytautas Leškevičius; as well as representatives of the Lithuanian Chamber of Bailiffs, the Lithuanian Chamber of Notaries, and the Lithuanian Bar Association.  

The delegation of the JURI Committee comprises: Sebastian Valentin Bodu (Romania) and Tadeusz Zwiefka (Poland), Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats); Bernhard Rapkay (Germany), Lidia Geringer de Oedenberg (Poland), Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament; Sajjad Karim (United Kingdom), European Conservatives and Reformists Group; Francesco Enrico Speroni (Italy), Europe of freedom and democracy Group; and Dimitar Stoyanov (Bulgaria), non-attached Member.

JURI is a Committee of the European Parliament responsible for the interpretation and application of European law, the legal protection of Parliament's rights and prerogatives, Community acts which affect the Member States' legal order, judicial and administrative cooperation in civil matters, environmental liability and sanctions against environmental crime, ethical questions related to new technologies, the Statute for Members, privileges and immunities as well as verification of Members' credentials, the organisation and statute of the Court of Justice, and the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market.  

Asta Markevičienė, Public Relations Unit, tel. +370 5 239 6202, e-mail: [email protected]