On 28 April in Valletta, Malta, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius met with the Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano and discussed bilateral relations, and foreign policy issues.

Proposals to regulate private security firms, a blacklist of countries linked to money laundering and the opportunities and challenges of the sharing economy are just some of the topics covered by Parliament committees this week. In addition the House of European History will be officially launched this week, while the Parliament opens its door to the general public in Brussels.

Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevičius attended the informal meeting of EU Ministers of Foreign Affairs (Gymnich) in the Maltese capital Valletta on 28 April 2017. The Ministers discussed developments in Turkey, challenges in the international order of rules, and implementation of the EU Global Strategy on Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė is attending a special European Council of 27 to discuss the guidelines for Brexit negotiations.

With 91 votes in favour, none against and no abstentions, the Seimas adopted the Law on ratifying the Agreement establishing an Association between Central America, on the one hand, and the European Union and its Member States, on the other. The Law ratified the Agreement establishing an Association between the European Union and its Member States, on the one hand, and Central America, on the other, (hereinafter referred to as the Agreement) adopted in Tegucigalpa on 29 June 2012. Parties to the Agreement include the Central American Republics of Costa Rika, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama as well as the EU and its Member States, within their respective areas of competence. As defined in its Article 353, the Agreement shall be approved by the Parties in accordance with their own internal legal procedures and shall enter into force the first day of the month following that in which the Parties have notified each other of the completion of the internal legal procedures.

During his visit to Tallinn on 20 April 2017, Andriejus Stančikas, Chair of the Seimas Committee on Rural Affairs, met with Helir-Valdor Seeder, Chairman of the Rural Affairs Committee of the Estonian Riigikogu; Romāns Naudiņš, Chairman of the Economic, Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Policy Committee of the Latvian Saeima, and Armands Krauze, Member of this Committee.

On April 26-27 Minister of National Defence is taking a part in the NATO Defence Ministers meeting in Malta. Discussions will focus on the new EU security and defence initiatives, including the possibility of creating a permanent cooperation structure, establishing an annual defence review mechanism, enhancing NATO rapid response crisis response, and EU-led operations in the Mediterranean.

A wide variety of internal and external issues are up for debate at this week’s plenary session in Brussels. MEPs discuss the recent referendum in Turkey with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini while developments in Greece, Hungary and Venezuela are also on the agenda. In Parliament’s committees, MEPs are to vote on the protection of minors online and on limiting the geoblocking of services. Also up for a vote is the establishment of an EU fund to fight the root causes of migration.

On 21 April 2017, Viktoras Pranckietis, Speaker of the Seimas, met with Rebecca Harms, MEP from Germany, and discussed further joint actions on the Astravyets nuclear power plant (NPP). The Speaker of the Seimas noted that Belarus failed to ensure the promised transparency and that the denial of access to the country for the group of MEPs was a highly disconcerting fact.