President Dalia Grybauskaitė will travel to the Vatican on a working visit to attend the International Charlemagne Prize award ceremony for Pope Francis on Friday, May 6.

Libya faces not only political instability and an increasing Islamic State presence, but it is also at risk of attracting more migrants trying to reach Europe by boat from there. We talked to Italian S&D member Pier Antonio Panzeri, chair of the Parliament delegation for relations with the Maghreb, about how the EU-Turkey agreement on migration will affect Libya and how the EU could potentially help the country to tackle the Islamic State.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė met with King Abdullah II of Jordan to discuss global security issues facing the European Union and the Middle East region, the situation in Syria, measures to tackle the massive migration crisis, as well as bilateral relations between Lithuania and Jordan.

The award ceremony will take place at the Vatican on 6 May at 12:00. It will be introduced by “laudatio” speeches by European Parliament President Martin Schulz, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Council President Donald Tusk. On the previous day, the three EU Presidents will take part in a panel debate about the state of the EU, preceded by an address by Italian PM Matteo Renzi.

The reported attack today on the Iraqi Parliament and the violent protests in Baghdad risk to further destabilise an already tense situation. It appears as deliberate disruption of the democratic process. A rapid restoration of order is in the interest of the Iraqi people, who have been suffering for too long for the lack of stability in their country, and is in the interest of all the region, confronted by many threats.

The new spike of violence and actions undermining the cessation of hostilities, notably the Syrian regime's most recent offensives near Aleppo and east of Damascus, put the peace talks at risk, as the UN Special Envoy de Mistura has said.

President Dalia Grybauskaitė extended congratulations, both personally and on behalf of the Lithuanian people, to King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden on his 70th birthday.

A meeting of NATO Ambassadors took place at the Embassy of Lithuania in Ukraine on 27 April. The meeting focused on preparations for NATO Summit in Warsaw, the partnership between NATO and Ukraine, and other important issues.

During the political consultations between Lithuania and Portugal in Lisbon on 26-27 April, the Political Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Rolandas Kačinskas and the Director-General for Foreign Policy at the Portuguese Foreign Ministry Francisco Duarte Lopes discussed the agenda of bilateral cooperation, adjusted their positions on topical issues related to the European Union and NATO’s policies.

European Commission puts forward new approach to change the way refugees and displaced people are supported in external action policies