On May 19 Minister of National Defence Raimundas Karoblis discussed topics of bilateral interest with Minister of Defence of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak conducting a two-day visit in Lithuania.

On 18 May 2017, Viktoras Pranckietis, Speaker of the Seimas, met with Col. Gen. Stepan Poltorak, Minister of Defence of Ukraine, and discussed the situation in Ukraine.

“It is impossible to counter hybrid threats without having identified their source,” Minister of National Defence Raimundas Karoblis stated at the European Union Defence Ministers meeting in Brussels (Belgium) today. The Ministers addressed the progress achieved on the implementation of the EU Global Strategy, EU initiatives in security and defence, and enhancement of the cooperation with NATO.

On 17 May, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius congratulated Jean-Yves Le Drian on his new appointment as the French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs.

Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis met with Speaker of the Slovenian Parliament, Milan Brglez.

On 16 May 2017, Viktoras Pranckietis, Speaker of the Seimas, had a meeting with Milan Brglez, President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia. The meeting addressed bilateral relations between Lithuania and Slovenia, and matters pertaining to their economic cooperation and security.

On 15th May, Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis has met with Christoph Klingen, IMF mission chief for Lithuania, and other experts. The IMF have handed in to the Prime Minister recommendations for reforms necessary for Lithuania’s economic development.

On 15 May in Brussels, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius participated in the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council, which focused on the Eastern Partnership, the situation in the Horn of Africa, the EU-Africa relations, and the implementation of the EU Global Strategy in the area of security and defence.

Having taken into consideration the complicated situation in the Lithuanian agricultural sector and rural areas and large emigration flows, the Seimas underlined the need to ensure adequate funding for the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2020 in view of the future challenges and targets to be attained in the agricultural sector and rural areas. This was stressed in the Resolution on the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union after 2020, which the Seimas adopted by 65 votes in favour, with no votes against and 7 abstentions.

“The independent choice of energy mix is Member States’ prerogative enshrined in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,” underlined Gediminas Kirkilas, Deputy Speaker of the Seimas and Chair of the Committee on European Affairs, who participated in an informal meeting of chairs of EU affairs committees of the Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Polish parliaments in Żelazowa Wola, Sochaczew, Poland, on 7–8 May 2017. The participants discussed the Clean Energy for All Europeans package presented by the European Commission on 30 November 2016, progress of the reform of the Common European Asylum System, reinforcement of the role of national parliaments, and other relevant topics on the EU agenda.