A survey of the Lithuanian economy conducted by the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI) shows that eurozone problems do not leave anybody cold. Lithuania failed to join the eurozone in 2007 because it missed the inflation criteria by only 0.06 per cent. At the time, it was considered a big political failure. However, given the present vulnerability of the eurozone, it may look like a windfall success. The national currency, the litas, is pegged to…

About elections which delighted Europe, about some new ideas from the city on the Seine and about a bankruptcy that turned out to be a bankruptcy. A budget hatchet will be buried in Slovakia, and Robert Fico will be in charge of it. At least, this is what the last weekend’s election resulted in. Contrary to the election outcome in the year 2006, this time the results of the party SMER pleased the foreign countries….

As The Lithuania Tribune writes Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė met with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Yukiya Amano in Seoul, during the Nuclear Security Summit. President Grybauskaitė emphasised that works at both the Ignalina nuclear power plant and the planned Visaginas nuclear power plant are carried out with full respect for nuclear safety requirements. However, she pointed out concern when it comes to the safety of planned nuclear power plants in…

As the portal www.thenews.pl writes, new Polish party was officially launched on Saturday, March 24. The new conservative party is called Solidarna Polska (SP) (Solidarity Poland) and Zbigniew Ziobro, former Minister of Justice, was elected its leader. Solidarna Polska has 20MPs, 2 senators and 4 MEPs, mainly former members of Law and Justice party. Currently, according to surveys, the party has less than 2% of voters’ support. Main points of the political programme of the…

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Lithuanian Free Market Institute and                   Friedrich Naumann Foundation invite to International conference “The Eurozone in Crisis: Solutions and Future Prospects” WHEN Date: 03-04-2012 09:00 WHERE Place: Radisson Blu Hotel Lietuva, Konstitucijos pr. 20, Vilnius In the conference we will discuss the fiscal policy of the European Union countries and the future of euro. We invite politicians, representatives from business, experts from Lithuania and foreign countries, and the media to participate. Registration is due by…

According to The Slovak Spectator Miroslav Lajčák will be new Slovak Minister of Foreign Affairs. The rest of the ministerial nominations will be known on Monday, March 26. Apart from Lajčák’s nomination, it is already known that Marek Maďarič will  be culture minister, Robert Kaliňák – interior minister and Peter Kažimír – finance minister. More information here.  

According to The Lithuania Tribune Lithuanian foreign debt increased in the last quarter of the year 2011 by 1.4% (1.1 bln litas). Total foreign debt consists of both governmental debt and private enterprises’ debts. Throughout whole year 2011 foreign debt of Lithuania increased by 3.1% and reached 85.7 bln litas. Ratio of debt to GDP in 2011 decreased from 87.4% (in 2010) to 80.8%. The biggest part of the foreign debt is constituted by government’s…

Polish-Hungarian Friendship Day is officially celebrated on March 23. On this occassion, as the portal www.thenews.pl writes, Polish President Bronisław Komorowski is going to visit Hungary. First there will be celebrations held in Budapest, in which Hungarian counterpart President Pal Schmitt will also take part. On Friday celebrations will be held in Szeged. On the occassion of Polish-Hungarian Friendship Day a plaque will be unveiled in Budapest and both Presidents will plant oak trees as…

According to the portal czechposition.com (http://www.ceskapozice.cz) Josef Dobeš,  former Minister of Education, resigned from his position. Officially the resignation followed decision to cut down on the Ministry of Education’s budget, which would mean according to the former Minister “unacceptable cut in teachers’ salaries”. Czech media, however, speculate that financial cuts at the Ministry were just an excuse for Dobeš to resign. Former Minister was criticized for inefficient management of the European funds. Another criticism towards…

According to The Sofia Echo during a visit of Bulgarian PM Boiko Borissov to Ankara 17 documents were signed. Bulgarian government delegation headed to Turkey for the meeting of the Bulgarian-Turkish High-Level Co-operation Council. Signed documents covered a wide scope of issues, such as gas transmission, economic and military cooperation and culture. Bulgarian and Turkish Ministers of Foreign Affairs issued a joint statement expressing support for the Arab people fighting for freedom and democracy. More…