In the run-up to the NATO summit, the Prime Ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia have made a joint statement stressing that the NATO summit will be a crucial moment for Allies to reiterate NATO’s unity, strengthen the transatlantic bond, take stock of progress achieved in making NATO more capable, and to give guidance for NATO’s future. The Prime Ministers underline that NATO is and will remain the cornerstone of Euro-Atlantic security, and stress the importance of deterrence and defence, as well as strengthening and modernisation of NATO forces.

Parliament is set to vote on the proposal for a Covid certificate, a biodiversity strategy and announce the winner of the LUX award during the plenary session on 7-10 June.

President Gitanas Nausėda met with Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, and European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius. Climate change, European Green Deal, and Ostrovets nuclear power plant were in the focus of attention.

On her visit to Brussels, Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė has met with President of the European Council Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, and has discussed a more active and united role of the EU globally, the pandemic management, the rapid approval of the Recovery and Resilience Plan for Lithuania, climate change management measures, threats posed by the unsafe Astravets NPP to all EU citizens, implementation of the strategic energy and transport projects in the Baltic states, a united European response to the aggressive actions by the regimes of Russia and Belarus, the China challenge, and support for the Eastern Partnership countries.

June 1, Minister of National Defence Arvydas Anušauskas attended a distance meeting of NATO Defence Ministers held to address the main points of NATO agenda ahead of the oncoming NATO Summit in Brussels on June 14. NATO Defence Ministers also discussed the present security situation, including the tensuions in Ukraine and Belarus and the increasing Belarus’ dependence on Russia.

In preparation for the NATO summit, chief foreign policy and national security advisers to the Presidents of the Baltic States, Poland and Ukraine gathered for coordination meeting in Vilnius.

The Executive Board on 26 May approved the calendar of Plenary meetings and European Citizens' Panels, with the series of events starting next month.

On 28 May, a representative of the Embassy of Belarus to Lithuania was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania and handed in a diplomatic note, declaring two members of the Embassy's staff personae non gratae, because they had carried out activities incompatible with their diplomatic status, and giving them seven days to leave Lithuania.

The Commission has today received an official recovery and resilience plan from Ireland and Sweden. These plans set out the reforms and public investment projects that each Member State plans to implement with the support of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).