News

Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomes the first survey that was carried out by the Transparency International, evaluating the transparency of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and progress achieved in adopting the EU’s legal acts designed to fight corruption. The survey confirmed that Lithuania had chosen to hold its EU Presidency in a transparent manner and to inform the public about preparations, events and costs on a regular basis.

“Lithuania supports the EU’s fight against money laundering and speaks in favour of adoption of a corporate accountability directive. It is also important that the Lithuanian Presidency dedicated special attention to public procurement as this was a priority issue in the Trio programme, the programmes of the Government and the Seimas (Parliament), dedicated to the Lithuanian Presidency,” the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Vytautas Leškevičius said.

Adoption of the anti-money laundering directive and regulation was among the priority issues in the Lithuanian Presidency’s programme. The financial services working group of the Council of the European Union has debated this issue eight times. However, there were different opinions held by Member States and so the issue was raised at the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) level on 15 November. Lithuania managed to have Member States undertake a commitment to swiftly adopt a decision in 2014 that an agreement with the European Parliament on all the necessary documents should be reached before the elections in May.

Aiming to adopt the corporate accountability directive, Lithuania has managed to achieve more than planned. Lithuania has not only prepared the issue for negotiations at the level of the Council of Ministers, but also was granted a mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament, which have already been launched by its successor, the Greek Presidency. Although some requirements for corporate transparency were weakened, the most important thing is that we have managed to keep this issue on the agenda. There is every possibility now to adopt the directive before the end of the European Parliament’s term of office.

Lithuania’s Presidency approved a package of directives for the reform of public procurement. The Council of the European Union has also agreed on the directive on electronic invoicing in public procurement, which complements the package. These new public procurement directives aim to overhaul and modernise the procedural regime set by the current rules, providing for more possibilities to solve political, social and economic issues. To this end, a lot of attention was dedicated to public procurement transparency and the fight against corruption. Promotion of electronic procurement strengthens public procurement monitoring and management, ensures greater publicity of public procurement documents. The new regime seeks to ensure that appropriate measures are taken to prevent conflicts of interests arising in the conduct of procurement procedures. It enables Member States to continue to improve the rules and provide protection mechanisms for applicants.

The Transparency International experts also noted that the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union’s attention to funding of European political parties, the establishment of a European Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Association and trade agreements with Eastern partners had contributed to reducing corruption risks across the EU.