On January 24, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius met in Vilnius with the Lithuanian experts taking leadership positions in the United Nations (UN) committees and working in the UN system. The meeting was attended by Prof. Dalia Leinartė, a member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, Prof. Jonas Ruškus, a member of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Prof. Dainius Pūras, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, and Prof. Justinas Žilinskas, a member of the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission.

This week members of Parliament’s international trade committee vote on whether to approve Ceta, the EU-Canada trade deal. The environment committee votes on measures on waste reduction and recycling. Newly-elected Parliament President Antonio Tajani opens an event on Wednesday marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Workers' rights are increasingly coming under pressure due to developments such as global competition and the digital revolution. The European Commission is working on plans to improve the situation. On 19 January MEPs adopted a report stating that workers in new type of jobs should be covered by labour laws. We talked to report author Maria João Rodrigues, a Portuguese member of the S&D group, on how to create fair and functioning labour markets and welfare systems.

The Seimas approved the National Security Strategy by 106 votes in favour to none against and 1 abstention. The Strategy defines the key aspects of the national security policy; national security interests of the Republic of Lithuania; threats, risks and risk factors; and the priorities and targets of the national security policy.

Antonio Tajani was elected as the president for the second half of the parliamentary term during this week's plenary session while MEPs also chose 14 new vice-presidents. In addition they called for emergency aid to help refugees cope with freezing temperatures and told the European Commission to redraw its lists of countries at risk of money laundering as it was too limited. Read about this and more in our article.

At its meeting of 11 January 2017, the Board of the Seimas endorsed long-term priorities of the Seimas for international cooperation (Decision of the Board of the Seimas No SV-S-80 of 6 February 2013 expired). The following priorities for international cooperation have been endorsed:

President Dalia Grybauskaitė met with foreign ambassadors accredited to Lithuania. Ambassadors from 57 world countries attended the annual meeting which focused on internal and external political issues, global tendencies and challenges.

Antonio Tajani (EPP, IT) won Parliament’s presidential election with 351 votes in a final face-off with Gianni Pittella (S&D, IT), who secured 282 votes.

MEPs elect on Tuesday 17 January Parliament's new president to replace Martin Schulz who is stepping down after five years. Seven candidates have put themselves forward for the post so far ahead of the first ballot on Tuesday morning. In case the president is not elected during the first ballot, nominations can still be added or withdrawn before each subsequent round of voting. Follow the candidates' speeches and the votes live on our website and on social media.