EU-Russia Relations: Time to choose on Russia: regime first or people first? - by Gabrielius Landsbergis

The latest EU-Russia high level contact has served once again as a reminder how hard it is to engage with Moscow on its playground.

We, Lithuanians, better than anybody else know that such an attempt is always more likely to be a trap, rather than just a challenge.

Last week, at the EU Foreign Affairs Council, we arrived to a unanimous agreement to sanction some perpetrators from the Kremlin's inner circle.

Read more at: Time to choose on Russia: regime first or people first?

EU Economy and Lithuania: Best EU Economy in Year of Covid Was Bloc’s Worst-Hit After 2008 -- by Milda Seputyte

The European Union’s worst-hit economy in the wake of the global financial crisis is looking like the bloc’s least affected during the coronavirus pandemic.

Lithuania suffered the deepest recession in 2009 as it became a testing ground for the harsh austerity that later ravaged Greece. This time, the European Commission reckons it will notch the shallowest contraction of all, with forecasts this month pointing to a dip in gross domestic product of just 2.2%.

Read more at: Best EU Economy in Year of Covid Was Bloc’s Worst-Hit After 2008 - Bloomberg

The Netherlands: Russian money laundering machine shifted millions through the Netherlands

On March the 5th. DutchNews reported that a money laundering operation which moved billions of euros out of Russia shifted part of the cash through the Netherlands, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project said on Monday.

In total, almost €1bn of the money ended up in the Netherlands, some of which was used to buy two luxury yachts, said the research project, which includes Trouw and the Groene Amsterdammer magazine plus Dutch investigative journalism collective Investico.

The OCCRP says Troika Dialog, once Russia’s largest private investment bank, channeled billions of dollars out of Russia from 2004 via a network of 70 offshore companies with accounts in Lithuania. The two Lithuanian banks were closed down in 2011 and 2013.

The scheme was discovered in a collection of 1.3 million banking transactions and other documents obtained by OCCRP and the Lithuanian news site 15min.lt, which stem from the two Lithuanian banks.

Some of the money was channeled into the Netherlands via the Amsterdam Trade Bank (ATB) and Turkey’s C. ATB, part of Russia’s Alfa Bank, is already involved in corruption investigations.

Smaller amounts were moved through ING and ABN Amro, the Groene Amsterdammer said. ‘The million euro payments came from the Troika Bank and had many signs of money laundering,’ the magazine said.

In addition, €43m went to the Rabobank account of luxury yacht builder Heesen, according to Dutch investigative news collective Investico.

 ‘How could all this happen under the watchful eye of the central bank DNB?’ the magazine asked. ‘Banks are banned from carrying out transactions if they don’t know who profits, but, the central bank says, banks often have no idea who is really hiding behind anonymous companies.’

 The central bank declined to answer specific questions about the claims, the Groene Amsterdammer said.

EU-Digest

Smaller amounts were moved through ING and ABN Amro, the Groene Amsterdammer said. ‘The million euro payments came from the Troika Bank and had many signs of money laundering,’ the magazine said. In addition, €43m went to the Rabobank account of luxury yacht builder Heesen, according to Dutch investigative news collective Investico. ‘How could all this happen under the watchful eye of the central bank DNB?’ the magazine asked. ‘Banks are banned from carrying out transactions if they don’t know who profits, but, the central bank says, banks often have no idea who is really hiding behind anonymous companies.’ The central bank declined to answer specific questions about the claims, the Groene Amsterdammer said.

Read more at DutchNews.

EU - Alternative energy : Almost 90% of new power in Europe from renewable sources in 2016 - by Adam Vaughan

A sign of the EUs rapid shift away from fossil fuels

Renewable energy sources made up nearly nine-tenths of new power added to Europe’s electricity grids last year, in a sign of the continent’s rapid shift away from fossil fuels.

But industry leaders said they were worried about the lack of political support beyond 2020, when binding EU renewable energy targets end.

Of the 24.5GW of new capacity built across the EU in 2016, 21.1GW – or 86% – was from wind, solar, biomass and hydro, eclipsing the previous high-water mark of 79% in 2014.

For the first time windfarms accounted for more than half of the capacity installed, the data from trade body WindEurope showed.

Wind power overtook coal to become the EU’s second largest form of power capacity after gas. .

Germany installed the most new wind capacity in 2016, while France, the Netherlands, Finland, Ireland and Lithuania all set new records for windfarm installations.

Read more: Almost 90% of new power in Europe from renewable sources in 2016 | Environment | The Guardia

EU Economy: Why Would Anybody Adopt the Euro in 2015? - by Adam Chandler

On Thursday,January 1, 2015 Lithuania became the 19th country to join the euro-zone. The move made it the last Baltic nation to adopt the currency, and the timing was inauspicious—the euro looks more and more like an economic death sentence as depressions spread across the continent.

Proving skeptics right, less than 24 hours later, the currency's value dropped to a four-year low after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi seemed to suggest that the bank might start printing money to combat what he called "excessively low" inflation. The Financial Times noted that with the latest dip, the euro's value "has fallen by 12 percent against the dollar in the past six months."

And just as Lithuania has joined the club, Greece appears to be considering getting out as it heads toward elections with the hard-left Syriza party, currently leading in the polls, threatening to leave the euro-zone if it wins.

So what's driving Lithuania to join a flailing, unsteady economic partnership? A political link to the West seems to be one answer, and the threat of Russia would be another. As Matt O'Brien noted at Wonkblog,"it's no coincidence that Lithuania's support for joining the euro has gone from 41 percent in 2013 to 63 percent today in the wake of Russia's incursion into Ukraine."

Driving home the point, at a ceremony on Thursday, Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius offered that the euro would “become a guarantor of both economic and political security.”

Read more: Why Would Anybody Adopt the Euro in 2015? - The Atlantic

EU: Russia must stop extra border checks from Lithuania

Russia and the European Union – of which Lithuania holds the rotating presidency – are each trying to convince Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine to join their respective trade blocs.

Russia last week introduced lengthy extra checks on trucks and goods originating from Lithuania, a former Soviet republic which has a large trucking and warehousing industry due to its strategic location between Russia and the EU.

"In our view, there appears to be no justification for such action by the Russian authorities which substantially disrupts trade," said John Clancy, spokesman for Europe's trade commissioner, Karel De Gucht. "In this respect, we expect the Russian authorities to immediately lift such unjustified restrictions."

Russia started subjecting Lithuanian-registered passenger cars to lengthy border checks in August, causing the number of crossings to fall 90%.

Lithuania called for European action under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules in a letter sent to the Commission on Tuesday.

"We consider these restrictive measures applied by the Russian Federation absolutely ungrounded, discriminatory and violating commitments of the Russian Federation to the WTO," said the letter signed by Foreign Minister Linas Linkevicius.

Read more: EU: Russia must stop extra border checks from Lithuania :: The Baltic Course | Baltic States news & analytics

European Higher Education Conference 5-6th September, Vilnius, Lithuania

The International Conference „European Higher Education in the World“ will be held on the 5-6th September in Vilnius, Lithuania. It will be one of the biggest events dedicated to Higher Education questions during the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2013.

The international dimension of higher education has become a central topic of the European higher education policy agenda. Globalisation and technological development are radically changing the landscape of higher education. International student mobility will grow rapidly to an expected 7 million by 2020 in the context of an exponential growth in the demand for higher education: over the next twenty years, the number of higher education students is expected to increase fourfold, from 99 million to 414 million. The thirst for knowledge and social mobility of the expanding middle classes in emerging economies will put higher education within the reach of hundreds of millions of citizens of the world.

European higher education institutions have a positive record of internationalization notably via their participation in EU and national academic cooperation programs. They have a rich and diverse experience in developing international curricula, fostering international education, research and innovation projects and exchanging students, researchers, staff and knowledge. Since 1987, the Erasmus program has played a key role in stimulating mobility: almost 3 million students have participated in the programme, as well as over 300,000 higher education teachers and other staff. Beyond mobility, Erasmus has transformed the way in which higher education institutions relate to and cooperate with one another.

The Program has proven to be an important catalyst in the reform and internationalisation of higher education systems. It put to the fore the need for the convergence introduced through the Bologna Process and its tools. From 2004, the Erasmus Mundus program, building on the successes of Erasmus, has contributed to enhance internationalization by funding the development of excellent joint Masters and doctoral programs between higher education institutions in Europe and further afield, stimulating the process of accreditation of international joint degrees.

The chief purpose of internationalisation is to improve the quality of higher education, to better prepare learners in Europe to live in a global world and work in a global economy. There is no single approach to internationalization. It involves all levels of university life and has to be adapted to each institution's specific profile. Higher education institutions are encouraged to develop comprehensive internationalization strategies encompassing all their competitive and cooperative activities.

While mobility is one key component, internationalization strategies need to reach well beyond mobility and prioritise the need to internationalise curricula and the teaching process, in order to cater for the needs of the vast majority of learners who are not internationally mobile.

The need for more global cooperation and strategic partnerships involving European and non-European higher education institutions is particularly urgent, in order to tackle global challenges. If Europe is to remain a highly attractive destination for internationally mobile students, and a valued partner for international academic cooperation, against the rising backdrop of new regional higher education hubs, it must reinforce its efforts to promote the global awareness of the high quality and the rich cultural and linguistic diversity of its universities as well as its competitive advantages. Those include a strong experience in developing joint and double degrees, participation in international research projects, networks, developing doctoral schools, industrial doctorates or in implementing a common qualification framework and quality assessment tools.

Only a Month Left Until the International Conference „European Higher Education in the World“ | Press Releases | News | Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2013

Shadow economy in eastern Europe undermines growth, says World Bank - by Nikolaj Nielsen

Doing business and working outside government regulation and tax systems in eastern Europe is so widespread that it risks undermining the region's long-term growth potential, says a World Bank report released on Monday (10 September).

"The governments of the new member states in Eastern Europe simply cannot afford a large shadow economy, neither in the short run due to fiscal concerns, nor in the long run due to the shrinking labour force," said World Bank senior adviser, Katarina Mathernova.

The report looked primarily at Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia.

Read more: EUobserver.com / Economic Affairs / Shadow economy in eastern Europe undermines growth, says World Bank

Council of Europe demands truth on CIA 'black sites'

The human rights commissioner for the Council of Europe urged countries that have hosted secret CIA prisons to come clean Monday, as the tenth anniversary of 9/11 approaches.

Thomas Hammarberg said Poland, Romania and Lithuania were among at least seven countries that hosted "black sites" for "enhanced interrogation" during the "war on terror."

"Darkness still enshrouds those who authorized and ran the black sites on European territories," he said. "The full truth must now be established and guarantees given that such forms of co-operation will never be repeated."

For more: Council of Europe demands truth on CIA 'black sites' - CNN.com

EU: Baltic Economy doing well

This corner of the European Union is an exception to the economic doom and gloom crippling other parts of the eurozone. The three Baltic nations, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, look at their southern European partners now struggling with cutbacks and think, “we’ve seen worse.” According to an old Estonian pledge: eat potato peelings if you must and just get it done.

They did. This past weekend, luminaries gathered in Tallinn to celebrate the Baltic states’ declaration of independence from the Soviet Union 20 years ago..

“I remember the days when the counters of the shops in Tallinn were empty and the people were starving. The economy more or less had to be rebuilt from scratch,” recalled Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, a longtime Baltic supporter. If you had asked people on Aug. 20, 1991 whether in 20 years “Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania would be seen as economic success stories in Europe, would be full members of NATO, full members of the European Union,” Blidt asked, “if anyone had said yes, that person would have been seen as a fairly likely candidate for lunacy.”

Baltic Economy | Estonia | Latvia | Lithuania | Former Soviet Union

Baltic Review: Lithuania should go green

For the complete report from the Baltic Review click on this link

Lithuania should go green

A couple of months ago work on the construction of the first offshore wind parks off the Lithuanian coast began. This is a real opportunity for the future. Instead of calling ourselves ‘brave Lithuania’ or ‘nuclear Lithuania’ we should call ourselves ‘green Lithuania’ and try to win the world’s respect that way.”

Common Dreams: Officials: Lithuania Hosted Secret CIA Prison To Get "Our Ear" - by Mathew Cole

For the complete report from CommonDreams.org click on this link

Officials: Lithuania Hosted Secret CIA Prison To Get "Our Ear" - by Mathew Cole

A third European country has been identified to ABC News as providing the CIA with facilities for a secret prison for high-value al Qaeda suspects: Lithuania, the former Soviet state. Former CIA officials directly involved or briefed on the highly classified program tell ABC News that Lithuanian officials provided the CIA with a building on the outskirts of Vilnius, the country's capital, where as many as eight suspects were held for more than a year, until late 2005 when they were moved because of public disclosures about the program. Flight logs viewed by ABC News confirm that CIA planes made repeated flights into Lithuania during that period. The CIA told ABC News that reporting the location of the now-closed prison was "irresponsible."

Through their embassy in Washington, the Lithuanian government denied hosting a secret CIA facility. "The Lithuanian Government denies all rumors and interpretations about alleged secret prison that supposedly functioned on Lithuanian soil and possibly was used by [CIA]," said Tomas Gulbinas, an embassy spokesman.

One of the former CIA officers involved in the secret prison program allowed ABC News to view flight logs that show aircraft used to move detainees to and from the secret prisons in Lithuania, Thailand, Afghanistan, Poland, Romania, Morocco and Guantanamo Bay. The purpose of the flights, said the officer, was to move terrorist suspects. The official told ABC News that the CIA arranged for false flight plans to be submitted to European aviation authorities. Planes flying into and out of Lithuania, for example, were ordered to submit paperwork that said they would be landing in nearby countries, despite actually landing in Vilnius, he said. "Finland and Poland were used most frequently" as false destinations, the former CIA officer told ABC News. A similar system was used to land planes in Romania and Poland.

Al Jazeera English - EU official becomes new Lithuania president

For the complete report from Al Jazeera click on this link

EU official becomes new Lithuania president

The European Union's budget chief has won a resounding election victory for Lithuania's presidency, claiming 69 per cent of the ballots, official results showed. With more than 99 per cent of votes counted on Monday, electoral commission results showed Dalia Grybauskaite had secured a landslide victory, with Social Democrat Algirdas Butkevicius, a distant second with under 12 per cent of the vote. Grybauskaite declared victory on being elected the Baltic nation's first female president as early results came in on Sunday.

The Baltic Course: Fitch cuts Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania ratings

For the complete report from The Baltic Course click on this link

Fitch cuts Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania ratings

London-based ratings agency Fitch on Wednesday downgraded the EU Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, citing their sliding economic situation. Fitch said it had cut Estonia's long-term foreign currency issuer default rating to BBB+ from A-, Latvia's to BB+ from BBB-, and Lithuania's to BBB from BBB+, and maintained its negative outlook for all three.

Latvia, which along with Estonia and Lithuania won independence from the crumbling Soviet bloc in 1991, had a reputation as a "tiger" in the European Union, which it joined in 2004. The economy of Latvia, a country of 2.3 million people, grew 11.9% in 2006 and 10.2% in 2007. But output fell 4.6% in 2008 and the government forecasts it will shrink 13.0% this year.