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During preparation for the presidency of the Council of the European Union, delegations of the European Parliament (EP) committees shall pay a visit to Lithuania. In April, members of three committees are expected in Vilnius.

According to Mr Vytautas Leškevičius, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs, in order to ensure smooth EU legislative procedure, close cooperation with the EP is of particular importance to Lithuania.

According to Mr Leškevičius, “Key objective of Lithuania during the presidency of the Council of the EU shall be smooth European legislative process. This requires consistent cooperation with the EP; the latter, together with the Council of the EU, account for key players in the EU legislative process”.

The above visits by the members of the EP are traditional. Usually, a presidency is visited by delegations of 4-6 EP committees. They meet with the leaders of the State, ministers of specific fields, and colleagues from respective national parliamentary committees. Members of seven EP committees are expected in Lithuania, both prior to the presidency, and at the start of the process.

The delegations of the committees are interested in methods used by the State to deal with issues in respective areas, meet politicians and representatives of non-governmental organisations and discuss issues in the agenda of the coming presidency of the Council of the EU.

April 3-5 the delegation of Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee is the first to visit Lithuania. It is headed by Mr Mikael Gustafsson, chairman of the Committee. Full programme of the visit is available here.

In late April, Lithuania expects delegations from two other committees, Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, and the Committee on the Industry, Research and Energy.

In May, members of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and representatives of the Committee on International Trade are expected in Vilnius.

In July, once the presidency of Lithuania of the Council of the EU starts, delegation of the Committee on Legal Affairs shall pay Lithuania a visit. Vilnius expects to see members of the Committee on Budgets; however, the exact date of the visit is still awaiting confirmation.

The ministries shall arrange visits of members of the committees depending on their field of responsibility.
There are 20 standing EP committees.