Press release, 6 June 2012

Having discussed the Decision of 30 May 2012 of the Seimas Committee on European Affairs, the Board of the Seimas approved the items to be discussed at parliamentary events of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union scheduled for the second half of 2013.

Apart from the traditional events, including the Meeting of the Chairpersons of COSAC, COSAC Plenary Meeting, Inter-Parliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy, Meeting of Secretaries General of the EU Parliaments, and Conference of Speakers of the EU Parliaments, the Lithuanian Presidency will hold the following parliamentary events:  

Meetings of Chairpersons of Sectoral Committees:

1. Prevention of Smuggling Goods Subject to Excise and Customs Duties, Seimas Committee on Budget and Finance;
2. Implementation of the Energy Action Plan until 2050, Seimas Committee on Economics;
3. Eastern Partnership: Towards More Ambitious Cooperation, Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Parliamentary Forum for Democracy (alongside the Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in Lithuania);
4. Macro-Regional Strategies: Development and Prospects, Seimas Committee on Environment Protection and Seimas Committee on State Administration and Local Authorities.

Conference:

More Rarely Used European Languages in the Rapidly Changing Digital World, Seimas Committee of the Development of Information Society.

The Board of the Seimas also proposed to the Seimas Committee on Social Affairs and Labour to hold a Meeting of Chairpersons of Sectoral Committees on Employment Incentives to Implement the Europe 2020 Strategy with a view to analysing such relevant issues as youth employment, emigration, integration into the labour market, and vocational training.

However, it was decided to refrain, for now, from determining the topic of one of the scheduled parliamentary events in order to better respond to the EU agenda closer to the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council.

On 4 April 2012, the meeting of the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs decided to set up a Working Group involving the Seimas political groups, which would submit its proposals on the parliamentary events of the Presidency adhering to the following criteria: compliance of the proposed events with the priority areas of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council, topicality, usual course of parliamentary events, and possibilities for the inter-governmental follow-up.

The Working Group submitted its proposals on the events at the meeting of 15 May 2012; the proposals were approved by the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs on 30 May 2012.

Jolanta Anskaitienė, Public Relations Unit, tel: +370 5 239 6508

For more information, please contact Loreta Raulinaitytė, tel: +370 5 239 6762