On Tuesday, Minister of Transport and Communications Marius Skuodis met with the management of the Irish airline company Ryanair in the Ministry to discuss the company’s plans regarding further investment into aircraft maintenance infrastructure in Kaunas airport and regional development opportunities upon the completion of Rail Baltica.

In Q1 2021, banks operating in Lithuania granted more loans to households for house purchase and loans to businesses, however, the flow of loans has not yet reached the pre-pandemic level. Customer deposits with banks continued to grow.

Lithuania’s economy has returned to the pre-pandemic level in terms of its gross domestic product (GDP) and the financial system has successfully weathered the challenges of the pandemic so far. Given the good economic performance at the start of the year, the GDP projection can be revised upwards to a 5.1% growth expected this year. However, vigilance is needed in the face of rising budget deficit and public debt, the continuing risk of a wave of corporate bankruptcies and a buoyant residential real estate market.

Sustainable development of 5G network, investments in very high capacity electronic communication networks, improved protection of consumer rights, the right for service users to receive public communications services via embedded subscriber identification modules (eSIM), and the Communications Regulatory Authority’s (RRT) management reform – these are the priorities the Ministry of Transport and Communications is pursuing by initiating the amendment of the Law on Electronic Communications (LEC) and other relevant laws. Today, the Government approved these amendments.

EP and Council negotiators reached a deal on new road charging rules for trucks to transition from time-based to distance-based charging, reducing CO2 emissions.

The Commission has adopted the main work programme of Horizon Europe for the period 2021-2022, which outlines the objectives and specific topic areas that will receive a total of €14.7 billion in funding. These investments will help accelerate the green and digital transitions and will contribute to sustainable recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and to EU resilience against future crises. They will support European researchers through fellowships, training and exchanges, build more connected and efficient European innovation ecosystems and create world-class research infrastructures. Moreover, they will encourage participation across Europe and from around the world, while at the same time strengthening the European Research Area.

The European Central Bank Governing Council decided to confirm its very accommodative monetary policy stance:

At the meeting of the EU Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council (Energy) that took place in Luxembourg on 11 June, Minister of Energy Dainius Kreivys spoke about the threats of the Astravets Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and the dangers it poses to the people of Europe.

The Ministry of Energy will allocate an additional EUR 2.4 million in financing from the Cohesion Fund for people who want to install solar power plants. After evaluation of the applications submitted in April, EUR 1.5 million was allocated to 881 people for the purchase of solar power plants from power farms. The option of installing a personal solar power plant on the roof of a house or in another proprietary area has become very popular. A total of 4,050 such applications passed evaluation, and the EUR 11 million requested exceeds the pre-planned amount of support.

Having completed the investigation that was started in autumn, the Bank of Lithuania revoked the licence of UAB Finolita Unio for severe infringements of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing requirements.