On June 13 Political Director of the Ministry of National Defence Dr. Vaidotas Urbelis underlined while attending an EU ministerial meeting on defence in Berlin that fundamental solutions on the future of the EU Battlegroups (BGs) were to be found ahead of the European Council discussion coming up in December

Some 120 million Europeans are at risk of poverty or social exclusion - a situation which has been made worse by the economic and financial crisis.

Last week, on 30-31st May, a traditional visit before Lithuania's acquisition of the European Union's presidency was paid by the President of the European Parliament (EP) Martin Schulz, EU Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding and the heads of political groups, including the chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group – Mr Martin Callanan.

Considered once as the left-wing radical, philosopher Arvydas Juozaitis has metamorphosed. From the leftist and internationalist suddenly he became a national extremist. Probably even Songaila and Landsbergis look with envy at Juozaitis’s intransigence and belligerence towards Poland.

Approx. 120 members of the Lithuanian Armed Forces assigned to a joint military unit with counterparts from the United Kingdom, Latvia, the Netherlands and Sweden have been certified for the European Union Battlegroup (EUBG) commitment in the second half of 2013 upon completion of the certification exercise on 16 May. If necessary, the EUBG led by the UK will be ready to deploy to complete tasks ranging from conflict prevention to humanitarian and disaster relief within 5 to 10 days.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė was awarded the Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, at Georgetown University. The honorary doctorate was conferred to the President for "political leadership, truth, transparency and responsibility."

On 16th May in the District Court of the Vilnius City the decision regarding the recently famous case concerning the removal of Polish street names from private houses in Vilnius District was made. The court dismissed the application of a bailiff to punish the Director of Administration of the Vilnius District Liucina Kotlovska. According to the application, Mrs Kotlovska was requested to pay a fine of one thousand litas for every day of delay in implementing a court order. There is a seven-day deadline for appeal to a higher court.

The representatives of the traditional religious communities in Lithuania issued a joint statement in which they express their opposition to abortion.