Antonio Tajani was elected as the president for the second half of the parliamentary term during this week's plenary session while MEPs also chose 14 new vice-presidents. In addition they called for emergency aid to help refugees cope with freezing temperatures and told the European Commission to redraw its lists of countries at risk of money laundering as it was too limited. Read about this and more in our article.

At its meeting of 11 January 2017, the Board of the Seimas endorsed long-term priorities of the Seimas for international cooperation (Decision of the Board of the Seimas No SV-S-80 of 6 February 2013 expired). The following priorities for international cooperation have been endorsed:

President Dalia Grybauskaitė met with foreign ambassadors accredited to Lithuania. Ambassadors from 57 world countries attended the annual meeting which focused on internal and external political issues, global tendencies and challenges.

Antonio Tajani (EPP, IT) won Parliament’s presidential election with 351 votes in a final face-off with Gianni Pittella (S&D, IT), who secured 282 votes.

MEPs elect on Tuesday 17 January Parliament's new president to replace Martin Schulz who is stepping down after five years. Seven candidates have put themselves forward for the post so far ahead of the first ballot on Tuesday morning. In case the president is not elected during the first ballot, nominations can still be added or withdrawn before each subsequent round of voting. Follow the candidates' speeches and the votes live on our website and on social media.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė met with Koen Lenaerts, President of the Court of Justice of the European Union, to discuss the strengthening of the rule of law in Lithuania and in the European Union, cooperation between Lithuanian courts and the Court of Justice, the upcoming Brexit negotiations, and the EU judicial reform.

Ramūnas Karbauskis, Chair of the Lithuanian Peasant and Greens Union Political Group at the Seimas, presented draft amendments to Article 55 and 57 of the Constitution (draft NoXIIIP-259), proposing a reduction of the number of Members of the Seimas and a change of the date for general elections.

Lithuania and Poland are the closest neighbours and strategic partners that have many interests and challenges in common, therefore, there is no alternative to close cooperation between these countries, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius in a meeting with the Secretary of State at the Polish President’s Chancellery Krzysztof Szczerski.

On the eve of the Day of the Defenders of Freedom, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius thanked societies of foreign countries for their support of Lithuania and protesting against the Soviet aggression on January 13, 1991.

On 10 January 2017, Viktoras Pranckietis, Speaker of the Seimas, met with Aleksandr Korol, Ambassador of the Republic of Belarus. According to the Speaker, the safety of the nuclear power plant in Astravyets is the key issue with Belarus.