EP negotiating team reached a deal with the Council on Wednesday on EU-wide rules to help crowdfunding services function smoothly and foster cross-border business funding.

As of 1 January 2020 security of the Baltic airspace will be ensured by three Command and Reporting Centers designed for specific national airspace surveillance, based in Tallinn, Lielvarde, and Karmėlava, instead of one joint unit. It will enhance capabilities of NATO’s Integrated Air and Missile Defence System, regional interoperability, and reliability of protection of the Alliance airspace. On December 19 the new BALTNET (Baltic Air Surveillance Network and Control System) configuration and three national centers in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were inaugurated at a ceremony in Kaunas.

The European elections in May split 2019 in two halves for the Parliament: the first focused on adopting laws, the second on starting up a new parliamentary term.

Seimas approved that in 2020–2021 Lithuanian soldiers will be deployed to 11 international missions and operations. Lithuanians will continue service in 10 of the ongoing operations and join one more – international maritime security operation in the Straight of Hurmuz. The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania agreed to the deployment of Lithuanian military personnel to the operation in the Straight of Hurmuz in response to the request of the United States to of America to contribute staff personnel to the coalition-led operation. Up to five Lithuanian soldiers are planned to be deployed.

“The Baltic states and Poland are still the most vulnerable region at the eastern NATO border, therefore we have to continue strengthening our cooperation across all formats – bilateral, regional, NATO, and the EU, so that we can ensure an effective deterrence and mutual, as well as our allies’ support,” Minister of National Defence Raimundas Karoblis said on December 16 at a meeting with Ministers of Defence of Estonia, Latvia, and Poland in Tallinn.

The 2019 Sakharov Prize award ceremony, the election of the new EU Ombudsman and a debate on the decline of bees topped the agenda of the December plenary session in Strasbourg.

President Gitanas Nausėda met with Member of the European Commission Virginijus Sinkevičius, responsible for environment, oceans and fisheries at the new European Commission, chaired by President Ursula von der Leyen.

On Wednesday, Emily O’Reilly (Ireland) was elected European Ombudsman for the 2019-2024 parliamentary term. She was backed by 320 MEPs in a secret plenary vote.

On 16 December, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Neris Germanas participated in the 14th Asia and Europe Foreign Ministers' Meeting (ASEM) in Madrid, Spain.

President Gitanas Nausėda met with Latvian President Egils Levit and Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid in Riga.