Lithuania and the Council of Europe

Date of accession
Lithuania became a member of the Council of Europe on 14 May 1993.

Committee of Ministers
- Foreign Minister Antanas VALIONIS represents Lithuania in the Committee of Ministers.
- Ambassador Rokas BERNOTAS has been the Permanent Representative of Lithuania to the Council of Europe sinc September 1999.

Parliamentary Assembly
Lithuania is represented in the Parliamentary Assembly by a delegation of 4 representatives and 4 substitutes.
- Jonas ČEKUOLIS (LDR) is the head of the delegation.
- Juozas OLEKAS (SOC) is Parliamentary Assembly Vice-President.
- Vaclov STANKEVIC (LDR) is third Vice-Chairperson of the Committee on Environment and Agriculture.
- Dangute MIKUTIENE (LDR) is third Vice-Chairperson of the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men.

Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe
Lithuania is represented in the Congress by a delegation of 4 representatives and 4 substitutes.
- Erikas TAMASAUSKAS (ILGD), Kaunas, is the head of the delegation.

Budget
The Council of Europe's ordinary budget for 2002 is € 169,000,000. The contribution of Lithuania is € 281,216 (i.e. 0.1664 %).

Human Rights
Lithuania ratified the European Convention on Human Rights and recognised the right of individual petition on 20 June 1995.
- The judge for Lithuania at the European Human Rights Court is Pranas KÜRIS.
- Number of cases against Lithuania referred to the Court in 2001 :
Provisional files opened : 314 (274 in 2000)
Applications registered : 152 (183 in 2000)
Judgments on merits : 2 violations (4 violations in 2000)

Conventions
To date, Lithuania has ratified and signed the following conventions

Co-operation programmes and Lithuania
As long ago as 1989, the Council of Europe reacted to political developments in central and eastern Europe by setting up a number of specific legal co-operation programmes, open to all its member states and also to applicant states. These programmes are designed to help countries to press ahead with their institutional, legislative and administrative reforms
Furthermore, specific programmes, jointly funded by the European Commission and the Council of Europe, have been - or are being - implemented in certain countries, the aim being to establish an institutional and legal framework consistent with European standards.
For more information, see http://www.coe.int/T/E/Legal_Affairs/ (“About us” section then “Co-operation programmes”).

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the Council of Europe has also been implementing programmes of assistance for the development of the democratic stability, designed for promoting local and regional democracy in the member states of the Council of Europe.
For more information, see http://www.local.coe.int (“Assistance programmes” section).

The Council of Europe Information Office (estabished at the National "Martynas Mazvydas" Library of Lithuania)

Mrs. Marija PROKOPCIK
Director of the Council of Europe Information Office 
Gedimino pr. 51
LT - 2635 VILNIUS 

Telephone: +370-2/496.685/647
Tel/fax: +370-2/496.214
E-mail: euro@lbn.lt
Internet : http://cid.lbn.lt

Updated: 17 April 2002