Registered asylum-applicants will be able to start working sooner and their integration prospects will improve, under a draft law agreed by Parliament and Council.

On 21 December, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis received the Ambassador of Japan to Lithuania Tetsu Ozaki and handed a letter to the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Yoshimasa Hayashi. The letter welcomes the longstanding friendship between Lithuania and Japan and the breakthrough in bilateral relations. Lithuania and Japan celebrated a centenary of their diplomatic ties this year and announced a strategic partnership.

At the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) Summit in Riga today, President Gitanas Nausėda, together with the leaders of the United Kingdom, Latvia, Estonia, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, discussed the security situation in the Baltic Sea region and Northern Europe in the context of Russia’s war in Ukraine, support for Ukraine, the increasing hybrid threats and the response to them, as well as the challenge of protecting critical infrastructure.

President Gitanas Nausėda continues his working visit to Brussels, where he attended the European Council meeting on Thursday. The meeting focused on energy, support for Ukraine and transatlantic cooperation.

On Thursday, the European Parliament adopted three resolutions on the respect for human rights in China, Chad and Bahrain.

President Gitanas Nausėda began his working visit to Brussels, where on Wednesday he met with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore on the sidelines of EU-ASEAN Summit. The two leaders discussed bilateral economic cooperation and regional security issues.

As part of his working visit to Brussels, President Gitanas Nausėda is attending the EU-ASEAN Summit on Wednesday. Addressing the leaders of the European and Asian countries, the Lithuanian President focused on security and energy issues.

President Gitanas Nausėda met with Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính of Vietnam on Wednesday on the sidelines of the EU-ASEAN Summit. The two leaders discussed bilateral cooperation in the fields of energy, economy, and trade.

On Tuesday, the Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob addressed MEPs during the seventh “This is Europe” debate.

The European Parliament decided on Tuesday to terminate the term of office of Vice-President Eva Kaili.