The EU's new Erasmust+ programme, which will fund grants for students, teachers, trainers and apprentices to study abroad in the EU, was approved by the European Parliament on Tuesday. Youth leaders, volunteers and young sportsmen and women will also be eligible. A new guarantee mechanism will also enable master's degree students to get cheaper loans to study abroad.

The Group of Experts for Nuclear and Radiation Safety of the Baltic Sea Council will meet on November 19th in Vilnius, Lithuania to examine the issues important for the whole Baltic Sea region such as radiation protection and nuclear safety. This meeting is one of the Lithuanian Presidency of the EU Council events.

On 18–20 November, members of the European Network of Education Councils (EUNEC) and representatives of the Lithuanian education system will discuss how Member States could tackle the issue of early school leavers. During the conference, national education councils will present the current situation of educational reform in their countries, and indicate what could be changed in national policy to quicken reforms. This event is related to the Lithuanian Presidency of the EU Council.

On Thursday, Lithuania's Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius participated in the opening ceremony of the new building of M. K. Ciurlionis Arts School.

15 November 2013, Brussels. The Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER I) agreed on a mandate for the Lithuanian EU Council Presidency to start negotiations with a view to reaching a first-reading agreement on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 concerning the making available on the market and use of biocidal products with regard to certain conditions for access to the market.

Erasmus+ is the new EU umbrella programme for education, training, youth and sport from 2014 to 2020. It brings together all the existing education and training programmes as well as the Youth in Action Programme, and adds sport, for the first time in an EU programme. Having a single, simplified programme should make management more transparent and easier, ensure swifter access to funding and reduce administrative costs.

On Thursday, Lithuania's Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius participated in the ceremony of embedding the capsule of the Life Sciences Centre.

Ever wondered what a rapporteur does or what a third reading refers to? Plenary sessions contain plenty of terms that can be confusing to people who don't work for the European Parliament. Read on for a short introduction to the Parliament's working to help make sense of it all.

The closing event of the Licences for Europe stakeholder dialogue, brokered by the European Commission, will take place today in Brussels. The dialogue was jointly led by Commissioners Michel Barnier (Internal Market and Services), Neelie Kroes (Digital Agenda) and Androulla Vassiliou (Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth).

8 November, the largest information and communications technology (ICT) event in Europe, ICT2013: Create, Connect, Grow, ended. It had more visitors than any other event of the Lithuanian Presidency of the EU Council.