On February 5 Vice Minister of National Defence Vytautas Umbrasas discussed further prospects for regional and bilateral military cooperation at a meeting with Deputy Director General for International Relations and Strategy at the French Ministry of Defense Vice Admiral Hervé de Bonnaventure.

On 5 February in Vilnius, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius and the Deputy Secretary General of NATO Rose Gottemoeller discussed preparations for the upcoming meeting of heads of state and government of NATO member countries. Gottemoeller is visiting Lithuania on the occasion of the first anniversary of the deployment of the NATO enhanced forward presence battalion in Lithuania.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė, Croatia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Damir Krstičević, Dutch Minister of Defense Ank Bijleveld, German State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Defense Marcus Grübel and NATO's Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller discussed the strengthening of NATO’s defense and security at the Great Lithuanian Hetman Jonušas Radvila Training Regiment in Rukla.

The Commission launched the EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum with the support of the European Parliament, represented by Jakob von Weizsäcker responsible for the recent report on virtual currencies.

On January 29-30 a delegation of the Ministry of Defence of Armenia conducted a visit to the Ministry of National Defence of Lithuania. The guest delegation headed by Director of the Defence Policy Department of the Ministry of Defence of Armenia Levon Ayvazyan took part in bilateral security and defence consultations, exchanged information on the security situation in the Baltic Sea region and South Caucasus, defence policy of both countries, fight against information threats, and bilateral cooperation.

During the February plenary, MEPs will vote on new rules ending geo-blocking, as well as reforming the EU's emissions trading system. Watch the video to find out more.

Leading MEPs have hit out at EU finance ministers for removing eight countries from the EU's blacklist of tax havens, saying it will hamper the fight against tax evasion and avoidance.

“By deploying enhanced forward presence in the Baltic States and Poland, NATO sends out a very clear message – the collective defence commitment under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty is in place and valid and the Alliance shows solidarity and unity. Thanks to the Lithuanian Armed Forces and our allies here today the people of Lithuania are as secure as they have never been before” Mr. Raimundas Karoblis, Lithuanian Minister of National Defence says.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė presented letters of credence to Gediminas Varvuolis, Lithuanian Ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Japan.

MEPs are currently assessing a proposal to establish a legal framework for screening foreign direct investment in the EU.