Last week, Seimas cut LPG excise duty to 13 euros per ton from March; FlyDubai announced it will fly to Vilnius
Defence ministry urges NATO allies to up defence spending
Lithuanian Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas urged allies to ambitiously increase defence spending and develop lacking capabilities during the recent meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels. “It’s key for NATO to continue rapidly boosting its collective defence in line with the decisions made in Madrid and consolidated in Vilnius. The Washington summit in the summer must ensure the practical implementation of these decisions and demonstrate the Alliance’s readiness to deter and defend every inch of the Alliance,” the minister was quoted as saying in a statement released by the Defence Ministry on Thursday, the 15th of February. Earlier this week, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that 18 of the Alliance’s 31 countries were ready to meet the 2 % GDP defence spending target in 2024.
Officials see planned anti-NATO rally in Vilnius as possible “provocation”
Officials warned on Thursday, the 15th of February, that Saturday’s planned protest outside Berlin’s embassy in Vilnius against the German brigade’s deployment in Lithuania could be a provocation. People should be cautious about accepting “the invitation from a fake social network account to rally against NATO partners”, Darius Buta of the National Crisis Management Centre (NCMC) said. “This could be a provocation aimed at involving Lithuanian citizens,” he said. Police also said they had no further information about the planned protest outside the German embassy. The announcement of the event on Facebook describes NATO troops arriving in Lithuania as a threat to the country and accuses the government of giving “our territory to foreigners”.
EC slashes Lithuania’s 2024 GDP growth forecast to 2.1%
The European Commission announced on Thursday, the 15th of February, that it has cut Lithuania’s GDP growth forecast, published in November, from 2.5% to 2.1%. Meanwhile, Lithuania’s economy is expected to grow by 3% next year. “The Lithuanian economy went through a tougher year in 2023 when GDP contracted by 0.3%, but this year we should get back to the growth track,” Marius Vaščega, head of the European Commission Representation in Lithuania, said in a statement. Inflation is expected to reach 2.4% this year and remain at this level next year. In November, the EC also expected inflation in Lithuania to be below 3%.
Seimas cuts LPG excise duty to 13 euros per ton from March
The Lithuanian parliament on Thursday, the 15th of February, slashed the excise duty on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from 304 euros to 13 euros per ton as of the 1st of March, lower than the government’s proposed rate of 41 euros. In the same vote, the parliament lifted restrictions on the use of marked diesel by farmers. Some 108 MPs voted in favour, none were against, and five members of the Freedom political group abstained. Environment Minister Simonas Gentvilas, the most vocal opponent of the LPG excise tax cut, did not take part in the vote. Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė was also absent. Kestutis Mazeika, a member of the Committee on Rural Affairs, said that household users of LPG, not farmers, will benefit most from the tax cut. In January, farmers staged a large protest in Vilnius to press their demands that the government reverse the LPG excise duty hike in effect since since the 1st of January and bring back a reduced excise tax rate on diesel fuel for their trucks. Gentvilas said on Wednesday, the 14th of February, that a low LPG excise duty would encourage further imports of the product from Russia, and discourage people and businesses from investing in less polluting fuels.
FlyDubai announces it will fly to Vilnius
FlyDubai, a subsidiary of the UAE’s Emirates Airlines, announced on Wednesday, the 14th of February, it is set to enter the Lithuanian market from the fall, Lithuanian Transport and Communications Minister Marius Skuodis told at a press conference at Vilnius Airport. Tomas Zitikis, head of route development at Lietuvos Oro Uostai (Lithuanian Airports, LTOU) the airport operator in Lithuania, said FlyDubai would operate three weekly flights to Dubai from mid-October. According to the LTOU, flights on modern Boeing 737 MAXs between Vilnius and Dubai will take more than six hours. 15 airlines are operating scheduled flights from Lithuanian airports this year, including 11 are legacy airlines and four low-cost airlines.
Ministry proposes introducing quota of 43 000 cheap foreign workers
Lithuania’s Social Security and Labor Ministry has proposed introducing an employment quota of 43 000 foreigners to limit the inflow of cheap labour force from third countries to Lithuania and to encourage employers to recruit their own citizens. However, a different procedure would apply to highly qualified foreigners. According to Social Security and Labor Minister Monika Navickienė, unskilled workers would not be allowed to enter the country once such a quota is filled. According to the ministry, there has been an increase in the number of incoming third-country nationals since February 2023 and they are mostly coming from Uzbekistan, Belarus, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. Under the quota approved for this year, Lithuanian companies will be able to more easily recruit 40 250 people to fill in positions on the shortage occupations list, unchanged from 2023.
Teltonika gears for construction of semiconductor plants
Teltonika, a Lithuanian hi-tech group, is getting ready for the construction of new semiconductor production plants, the company said. Ernestas Zdaniauskis, vice president for innovation and business development at Teltonika IoT Group, says a feasibility study was carried out in 2023 and it looked into possibilities for the design, manufacturing, assembly and testing of chips and the production of power modules. In January 2023, Teltonika IoT Group and ITRI signed a 14-million-euro chip technology sharing agreement. Under the agreement, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs allocated 10 million euros for the project, and four million euros will come from Teltonika Group.
MP Žemaitaitis stripped of immunity over anti-Semitic statements
The Lithuanian Seimas on Wednesday, the 14th of February, stripped MP Remigijus Žemaitaitis of his legal immunity for his anti-Semitic statements after 77 lawmakers unanimously voted in favour. On Monday, the 12th of February, Prosecutor General Nida Grunskienė asked the Seimas for its consent to prosecute Žemaitaitis. Prosecutors want to prosecute the MP for publicly ridiculing, expressing contempt for and inciting hatred against a group of people of Jewish nationality. Žemaitaitis links the issue of his legal immunity to his participation in the upcoming presidential election and reiterates that he does not think that his statements incite hatred.
Lithuanian government to ask top court about LGBTIQ-related ban
The Lithuanian government decided on Tuesday, the 13th of February, to ask for the Constitutional Court’s opinion on a law provision that bans disseminating among minors information “that denigrates family values” and promotes the LGBTIQ family concept. The Cabinet approved the Justice Ministry’s proposal, which comes in response to the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling that Lithuania violated the rights of Neringa Macatė, a now deceased writer, by applying this provision. The government proposed that the Seimas remove the ban from the Law on the Protection of Minors from Negative Effects of Public Information, but the parliament rejected the initiative in November.. The Strasbourg court ruled last year that Lithuania had violated the European Convention on Human Rights by restricting the publication of Macatė’s “Amber Heart”. The book, a collection of fairy tales depicting same-sex relationships, was published by the Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences in 2013. However, the university suspended the distribution of the book a few months later, citing as the reason a document from the Office of the Inspector of Journalist Ethics stating that Macatė’s book was harmful to children aged under 14.
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Week in Lithuania | warns over anti-NATO rally as “provocation”; Ministry approves 43 000 foreign workers quota
