The debate on the Lithuania's accession to the euro zone took place in the European Parliament last Tuesday. The opinions of Lithuanian Members of the European Parliament on euro in Lithuania from already January 2015 were strongly divided. In his written statement, Chairman of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania, Member of the European Parliament Valdemar Tomaševski spoke against this hasty decision on the accession to the euro zone next year and did not support this idea on Wednesday's voting.
In his statement Mr Tomaševski stressed that the situation in the euro zone is currently very unstable and such state will linger still for quite a long time. According to the member, in this situation such a prompt entry of Lithuania to a common currency area would be a mistake.

Lithuanian embassies must devote the highest attention towards effective representation of the country's economic interests and membership in international organisations, noted Minister of Foreign Affairs Linas Linkevicius at the meeting with heads of Lithuania's diplomatic representations who gathered in Vilnius for the annual convention.

According to the constitution, after the presidential elections the government has given the mandate to a newly-sworn President Dalia Grybauskaitė. The President has signed a decree under which the leader of the Social Democrats Algirdas Butkevičius was reappointed as the Prime Minister and his candidacy was supported by a majority of MEPs. Thus a new procedure of forming a government began.

The Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania (EAPL) notes another rise in the post-election popularity. According to the results of the research conducted by the company 'Sprinter tyrimai', EAPL would gain 3,9 percent of votes of Lithuanians if the elections to the Seimas took place on Sunday.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė has signed amendments to the Law on the Approval of Financial Indicators of the State Budget and Municipal Budgets for 2014, providing for an additional increase of this year's defense spending by 130 million litas.

The Seimas Ombudsman Raimondas Šukys addressed the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania with a recommendation to draft a sample regulation, which would assure that the right of journalists' to get/acquire information is properly implemented by governmental and municipal institutions.

Based on the Constitution, President Dalia Grybauskaitė accepted the powers returned by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania.

President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite returned for further deliberations amendments to the Law on Public Procurement.

The Market and Opinion Research Centre Vilmorus carried out a public opinion poll, which shows that more than two-thirds support Lithuania's EU membership.

A discussion 'Economic strategy for the region - to increase business potential, to create prosperity' was organized last Tuesday in Šalčininkai. The Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius, the Mayor of Šalčininkai district Zdzislav Palevič and the Mayor of Vilnius district Marija Rekst took part in the discussion.