On 10 March 2017, Viktoras Pranckietis, Speaker of the Seimas, and Saulius Skvernelis, Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania, presented the work programme of the second (spring) session to the Parliament.

The Board of the Seimas approved the parliamentary diplomacy action plan for 2017 and decided to establish a working group for overseeing the implementation of this plan.

On 9 March, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius received the new Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Lithuania Fahad M. Alruwaily, who came to present his letters of credence to President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė.

Antonio Tajani made the case for European unity in his first speech as Parliament President at the start of a Council summit. “Today more than ever we can see how important European unity is,” he told political leaders at the summit in Brussels on 9 March. “Europe needs to be changed not weakened. All the institutions need to work harder to find the answers which ordinary Europeans are looking to us to provide.”

On 9 March in Vilnius, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičiaus held a meeting with the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó, and discussed prospects for bilateral cooperation, regional security, the situation in Ukraine, relations with Russia, the European Union’s agenda and energy security issues.

The European Council yesterday re-elected Donald Tusk as its president for a second term of two and a half years, from 1 June 2017 to 30 November 2019. Donald Tusk was also re-appointed as President of the Euro Summit for the same period.

“Lithuania supports the European Union security enhancement initiatives, however, the EU has to step cooperation with NATO and find more efficient ways of synergy with the Alliance in order to their implementation,” Minister of National Defence Raimundas Karoblis said at the joint European Defence and Foreign Defence Ministers session in Brussels today, March 6.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė will attend the European Council meeting in Brussels on March 9-10. The EU heads of state or government will elect the President of the European Council, review economic and security situation, exchange views on the implementation of measures aimed at stopping migration flows, and discuss cooperation with the Western Balkan states.

On the occasion of International Women's Day Parliament calls attention to women's economic situation. Other issues being dealt with this week include the reform of EU asylum rules and the environmental impact of the production of palm oil as well as a debate on the rule of law in Poland. In addition political groups and parliamentary committees prepare for next week's plenary session.

On March 2 Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs Sigmar Gabriel concluded his visit in Lithuania with a visit to Rukla to meet with the NATO enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) soldiers.