On 20 April, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Arnoldas Pranckevičius took part in an informal video conference of European Affairs Ministers, which took stock of the COVID-19 EU coordination, assessed the state of play of EU-UK relations, discussed the rule-of-law developments in the EU, the upcoming Conference on the Future of Europe, as well as the Enlargement and the Stabilisation and Association process.

The committee on Employment and Social Affairs will discuss the draft report on the proposal for a directive on Adequate minimum wages in the EU on Thursday from 16.45 – 17.30.

Share your views on the EU, organise events across Europe and discuss with others through the new digital platform on the Conference on the Future of Europe.

On 14 April, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis and the Minister of National Defence Arvydas Anušauskas took part in an extraordinary online meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Allied Defence Ministers, which focused on the security situation in Afghanistan and a gradual completion of the NATO-led mission Resolute Support Mission in this country.

President Gitanas Nausėda invited heads of institutions and intelligence services operating in the fields of national security and foreign policy to discuss the alarming situation on the Ukrainian-Russian border.

The European Commission has today proposed to exempt from Value Added Tax (VAT) goods and services made available by the European Commission, EU bodies and agencies to Member States and citizens during times of crisis. This responds to the experience gained during the course of the Coronavirus pandemic. Among other things, it has shown that the VAT charged on some transactions ends up being a cost factor in procurement operations that strains limited budgets. Therefore, today'sinitiative will maximise the efficiency of EU funds used in the public interest to respond to crises, such as natural disasters and public health emergencies. It will also strengthen EU-level disaster and crisis management bodies, such as those falling under the EU's Health Union and the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

The most up-to-date information on the activities of the Seimas and its decisions is now available in audio rather than only in written format. The website of the Seimas can offer this option after having installed the neural text-to-speech synthesis service to convert press releases and announcements published on the Seimas website into audio speech output.

MEPs start discussions on proposed rules for travel certificates and consider speeding up approval of vaccines adapted against Covid-19 variants.

Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė has had a remote conversation with Ambassador of the French Republic Claire Nathalie Marie Lignieres-Counathe, and has discussed the pandemic management, economic and political cooperation, and security.

In a meeting with the Ambassadors of Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Spain's Chargés d'affaires ad interim residing in Lithuania on 8 April, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis stressed the priority of Lithuania’s foreign policy to expand the space of democracy, the rule of law, and human rights both within the European Union and beyond.