Lithuania

On September 14, 2016, the Lithuanian Parliament endorsed a new Labour Code which will bring about the most notable changes in terms of types of employment contracts, working time and overtime regulation, annual leave, employee dismissal procedures, and the size of severance pay.

Some old Member States request the principle of “equal pay for equal work in the same place”, meaning that posted workers would not receive lower pay than the minimum wage of the recipient country. During the discussion accusations of social dumping by new Member States with regard to old Member States surfaced.

LFMI was named one of six finalists for this year’s Templeton Freedom Award for its textbook of economics – Economics in 31 Hours – that is giving the next generation of Lithuanian youth a fighting chance to get the economics right by teaching how property rights, free exchange, profit and competition shape decision-making in our everyday lives.

Ranked 20th in the 2016 World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index, Lithuania has outstripped its closest neighbours Latvia and Poland. Yet, possibilities of forging ahead as one of the most business-friendly economies are not fully exhausted.

49% of Lithuanian citizens see labor legislation as the means of achieving balance between employee-employer interests while 33% claim that it is an employee and 7% that it is an employer who should be defended by labor laws, LFMI’s survey shows.

On September 15, 2016 the Lithuanian Free Market Institute (LFMI) in partnership with Timbro and  the Institute of International Relations and Political Sciences of Vilnius University will hold a discussion “Authoritarian Populism in Europe: The Resurgence of Parties and Ideologies”. 

More than half Lithuan.ian schools started the new school year with a different – innovative – approach towards teaching of economics. Published last year, Economics in 31 Hours has already reached almost 54 per cent of 9th and 10th grade students country

France is facing yet another challenge. The European Commission clearly stated that a restrictive regulatory approach that they have implemented must be avoided. A difficult road is ahead for the French government as it will have to admit that the country’s licensing practices are laughably outdated and have to be removed.

With Lithuanian Parliamentary elections approaching, Lithuanian MPs like magicians are pulling out of a hat same old populistic laws. Once again they are trying to push through an old and already bashed suggestion that prohibits people from working on holidays.

A multitude of research shows that the shadow economy in Lithuania is decreasing. Yet, the pace of change is not as fast as desired. The level of the shadow economy remains high and there are still plenty of reasons for this kind of economic activity to emerge.