Lietuva in brief - 2007-03-07

  • 2007-03-07
A new air defense agreement was signed between the three Baltic nations during a meeting of EU defense ministers on March 2. Ministers from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia met in Wiesbaden, Germany, to sign off on the Baltic Air Surveillance Network, or BALTNET, which allows NATO fighter jets to patrol the region. The agreement replaces a 1998 treaty, and will empower the regional airspace surveillance coordination center in Karmelava, Lithuania to order NATO fighter jets into the air. Since March 2004, NATO countries have taken turns patroling Baltic skies.

The disgraced head of the Security Department, Arvydas Pocius, is likely to be replaced by Povilas Malakauskas, the current head of the Special Investigation Service. Prime Minister Gediminias Kirkilas strongly hinted that Malakauskas was the foremost candidate for the job, which was vacated by Pocius' resignation following charges of incompetence. Kirkilas told reporters that the likely replacement would have "a lot of experience, and what is very important 's Euro-Atlantic experience, has worked for the Defense Ministry and has experience working at a special service. I think the president has made an optimal choice," Kirkilas said. Malakauskas was deputy minister at the defense ministry before taking the position at the Special Investigation Service.

Lithuania has no plans to veto a cooperation pact between the European Union and Russia, president Valdas Adamkus told Echo Moskvy radio. Adamkus said there was no need to follow Poland in blocking talks between Russia and the EU to highlight oil supply problems on the Druzhba pipeline. "There is no way to solve things by confrontation," Adamkus said. Early reports indicated Lithuania may veto pact talks unless the EU helps convince Russia to restore oil supplies on the Druzhba pipeline.

Lithuania has pinned its Eurovision hopes on 4Fun, an acoustic guitar group who perform the song "Love or Leave." The five-piece pop group, combined with solo singer Yulya Ritcik, won the final stage of the national selection competition on March 3, beating singer Ruta Sciogoliovaite. It was the third time the group had attempted to enter the Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held in Helsinki, Finland in May. Lithuanians ended sixth in last year's Eurovision contest in Athens, their most successful attempt yet.

A Lithuanian citizen was among 217 protesters arrested during violent riots in Copenhagen, Denmark on March 2. Danish youth became involved in a riot over the controversial sale of an abandoned building that had been occupied as a squat. Protesters set up barricades and tussled with police in a night of unrest. Many of the hundreds of protesters were foreigners, including the Lithuanian national.