Lietuva in brief

  • 2013-07-24

Minister of the Interior Dailis Alfonsas Barakauskas ordered the setting up of an inter-institutional working group for the management of consequences of potential cyber security attacks, reports ELTA. According to Barakauskas, it would have to improve the coordination of the cyber attacks management. The group will include representatives of the Ministries of the Interior and National Defense, the Information Technology and Communications Department under the Ministry of the Interior, the Communications Regulatory Authority, the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau, information technology and TV group TEO LT and several other services. “By setting up this group, we want to ensure maximum information security for the process of the Lithuanian presidency of the EU Council and events. In case of a cyber attack, the group will have to take swift action to control the crisis,” Barakauskas said on July 23. The group will be expected to submit proposals and recommendations to the Minister of the Interior and other state institutions on quick response to incidents as well as be in charge of elimination of their consequences.

The Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania (LVAT) decided that the gay pride parade will take place on central Gediminas Avenue in Vilnius, reports ELTA. The LVAT rejected the appeal made by the municipality of Vilnius city in which the verdict of the lower instance court allowing the gay pride to take place on central Gediminas Avenue was appealed. This is the second court which made a decision to allow the gay pride parade on Gediminas Avenue. The municipality of Vilnius city suggested for the gay pride parade to take place on an out-of-the-way street. Lithuania’s gay pride parade will take place on Saturday. The first Lithuanian gay pride parade took place on May 8 in 2010. According to one poll, 62.1 percent of Lithuania’s population are against the gay pride parade.

Upon establishing a European Public Prosecutor’s Office, a single European judicial area would be created to investigate suspected fraud against the EU budget, said Algirdas Semeta, European Commissioner for Taxation and Customs Union, Audit and Anti-Fraud, on the possibility to set up such an office, reports ELTA. “By establishing the Prosecutor’s Office, we would achieve that any crime related to the use of EU funds would be investigated, from the beginning to the end,” said Semeta in an interview with radio Ziniu Radijas on July 23. The new EU institution would prosecute suspects in national courts. The Prosecutor’s Office would ensure seamless integration between the EU and the national level. The Prosecutor’s Office would have a decentralized structure, integrated into national judicial systems. Delegated European Prosecutors would carry out the investigations and prosecutions in the respective member state, using national staff and applying national law. Their actions would be coordinated by the European Public Prosecutor. National courts would review decisions of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office as well as hear appeals against decisions of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.