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Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius said his country will join Europe’s common currency when the euro area is ready for expansion, signaling that Europe’s sovereign debt crisis may alter his government’s euro adoption plans.
Lithuania will apply for the euro “when we’re ready and when the euro zone is ready,” Kubilius said in a radio interview with Lietuvos Radijas today. “The euro remains our strategic goal. Nevertheless, we’d like to see a clearer and more stable situation in the euro zone at the time when we adopt the euro.”

Kubilius dodged giving a specific target date as to when Lithuania will switch currencies, evading previous statements that the government aims to join the euro in 2014. He said the country will meet all the requirements for euro adoption next year, including the inflation target as declining oil prices help curb consumer-price growth.

Europe’s debt crisis is cooling Baltic enthusiasm for euro entry.

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Lithuanian Americans in Minnesota first met in the summer of 1990 with Latvians and Estonians on Summit Avenue (in Saint Paul, Minnesota) by the Governor's mansion to demonstrate for freedom of the Baltic States during the visit of Gorbachov to MN. George Jace and Tomas Markvaldas wrote the article in the St. Paul Press and Minnapolis Tribune calling Lithuanians to come to the demonstration and to send us their names and addresses.
The first organizational meeting of a small group of Lithuanian-Americans met at the home of George and Mary Jace in Hopkins, MN on January 24, 1991.
A new organization called the Lithuanian-American Community of Minnesota was established. The first meeting of all Lithuanian-Americans of Minnesota was held Thursday, February 7, 1991 at 7:00 PM in a conference room of the Hopkins City Hall. Forty people attended, among them two agricultural exchange students from the U. of MN. The exchange students were Algirdas Vosilius and Mindaugas Bubliauskas. Also a Latvian representative was present. Officers were elected. Tom Baltutis was elected as President, Kestutis Tautvydas as Vice-President, Milda Arlauskas as Secretary, Marcia Hansen as Treasurer, and Birute Tautvydas as the chairperson of the cultural committee, etc. The steering committee members were Tom Baltutis, Kestutis and Birute Tautvydas, Leo and Liana Raudys, Milda Arlauskas, Rick Vaicius, Tomas Markvaldas, and Marcia Hansen. Feb 16th, 1991 we held a commemorative demonstration for Lithuania's Independence on the steps of the MN Capital building, and at the end of April we had our first display booth at the Festival of Nations.
On October 30, 1991 the members of LAC of MN voted to become affiliated with the Lithuanina American Community, Inc. By-laws were written and approved by the members. We had a fall picnic at the farm of Gintautas and Debra Naujokas and held the first Kucios event at Christ the King Church Hall in south Minneapolis in December. We also published a newsletter; Volume1, No. 1 which came out on March 5th, 1991.
Respectfully submitted,
Kes Tautvydas 

This was not the first time that Lithuanians have organized a community in Minnesota. By 1922 the influx of Lithuanian immigrants into Minnesota had reached a point where the Twin Cities Lithuanian American Society was formed. It was a very active society, but after almost five decades the original volunteers were becoming too old to be very active and there were not enough new members who were willing to volunteer. The Society was disbanded in 1970. A review of the Society and its activities was presented by XXX at the LACMN’s 2007 Independence Day event.

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Estonian Minister:
Talks over Visaginas nuclear power plant are advancing sluggishly

Latvian and Estonian leaders are not much impressed by their Lithuanian counterparts’ energy progress.

Lithuanian Minister of Energy Arvydas Sekmokas this week met with Estonian Minister of Economic Affairs Juhan Parts to discuss joint energy projects. According to Parts, the talks over Lithuania's planned Visaginas nuclear power plant are moving forward at a slow pace.

Currently, Lithuania is conducting negotiations with Latvia and Estonia as well as with the Hitachi Group, which was brought in as a strategic investor, ETV reported.

In June, Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis told media that if Latvian economic interests are ignored in the Visaginas project's concession contract,

Latvia will withdraw from the project. In response, Lithuania has pledged to take into consideration the interests of all the partners. However, the whole project might still collapse as a result of the Lithuanian Parliament's decision to hold a referendum on the nuclear power plant in October.

"Let us wait and see what the result of the referendum will be. What is most important is to answer the questions posed by Latvia and Estonia. Lithuania is ready to tackle all the issues that are not covered by the concession contract between Lithuania and the Hitachi Group. We are prepared to solve these issues and to establish the project implementation company," said Lithuanian Minister of Energy Arvydas Sekmokas. According to Sekmokas, Lithuanian public opinion is currently in favour of the nuclear power plant.

Estonian Minister of Economic Affairs Juhan Parts noted that if the Lithuanians reject the nuclear power plant project, it will leave Lithuania largely dependent on imported electricity, which could undermine the predictability and reliability of the whole Baltic electricity market in the eyes of the investors and the consumers.

"If a large proportion of the electricity is imported - 60 percent in the case of Lithuania today - the situation is precarious," Parts said.

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Lithuania won the last and final Olympic Gold Medal!!

Lithuania's Laura Asadauskaite took gold in the women's modern pentathlon on Sunday, storming to a convincing win in the combined shoot and run finale of the one-day event to bag the final medal of the Games.

Britain's Samantha Murray, who was in fourth place after the first three events of fencing, shooting and riding, took the silver to a deafening roar from the home crowd.

The nail-biting combined finale, in which athletes shoot at five targets before running 1,000 meters, a procedure they repeat three times, is making its Olympic debut in London. The events were previously held separately.

Brazil's Yane Marques, who had gone into the shoot and run on level points with world number one Asadauskaite, stormed to an early lead after the first shoot but fell behind in the running laps around Greenwich Park, eventually taking bronze.

Belarusian state security has asked Lithuania and Sweden to help it apprehend the "teddy bear bombers" and put them on trial in Minsk for violating both Belarusian and Nato airspace. Meanwhile, the EU is to hold an emergency meeting after all of Sweden's diplomats were asked on August 8 to leave Minsk. 

Belarus spent July denying the incident, which saw Minsk and its surroundings showered with hundreds of teddy bears clutching placards calling for human rights to be respected by a Swedish public relations firm, Studio Total, that specializes in revolutionary advertisements. However, earlier in August, the government of President Alexander Lukashenko changed its tune, firing two high-ranking military officials for allowing the plane - which took off from Lithuania piloted by two Swedes - to penetrate the former Soviet air defences undetected. Lukashenko also told the incoming border guard chief not to hesitate to use weapons to prevent violations of Belarusian air space in future. 

According to Belapan, the Belarusian KGB's PR chief Alexander Antanovich said that a request has been sent to Vilnius and Stockholm requesting assistance in the investigation of a violation of the Belarusian border by the airplane on July 4. Antanovich added that the Belarusian law enforcement agencies are asking the two countries for assistance to bring the perpetrators to Minsk so that an "objective investigation of the case" can take place. 

Apparently without irony, the KGB man added that Minsk is working on the grounds of international law and existing procedures, and on the understanding that the unauthorized flight violated Nato air space as well as that of Belarus. Asked whether the KGB might accept an investigation by the Swedish authorities into the identity of the pilots, Antanovich remarked "an identification parade on television is not possible." 

Last week, Minsk announced that it has declined to renew the Swedish ambassador's accreditation, prompting Sweden to respond with anger. Foreign Minister Carl Bildt accused the Lukashenko regime of having "seriously violated the standards of international relations" and in response would expel two Belarusian diplomats and the new Belarusian ambassador "would not be welcome" in Sweden. 

On August 8, the Belarusian foreign ministry said it is to withdraw all embassy staff from Stockholm, and asked Sweden to pull its diplomats out of Minsk by August 30, reports RIA Novosti. That has prompted an emergency meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels set for August 10. 

The founder of the Swedish PR firm which dropped hundreds of pro-free speech teddy bears over Belarus has mocked president Alexander Lukashenko as an "armed clown" following the arrest of people suspected of aiding in the pro-democracy stunt.

Here is the scheduled layout for basketball in the Olympic games in London.

Lithuania may delay
its euro-adoption

SWEDBANK: Lithuania may delay its euro-adoption goal beyond 2014 because the currency area’s debt crisis is worsening and its government lacks “political determination” before a parliamentary ballot.

Lithuania may be wary of providing aid to ailing euro-region members such as Greece, Swedbank economists Nerijus Maciulis and Lija Strasuna says in an e-mailed report. While it has a good chance of meeting entry criteria by next April, neighbouring Latvia has stronger political resolve to adopt the currency the following year, they write.

“There seems to be a more unanimous agreement to meet Maastricht criteria for the sake of stability, but not necessarily in order to adopt the euro immediately” in Lithuania, Swedbank says. “There’s a probability Lithuania won’t apply formally for euro adoption in 2014 -– much of this will depend on election results in October, as well as the euro area’s progress toward a sustainable solution.”

Latvia and Lithuania are likely to meet the Maastricht criteria in early 2013 and were both expected to join the euro zone in 2014.

Thus, by 2014, the two countries may be able to take full advantage of the benefits offered by the membership in Economic and Monetary Union, according to the Swedbank economists.

According to Chief Economist at Swedbank Nerijus Maciulis, Lithuanian politicians avoid making decisions and even discussing the subject because of the recent fall of the euro popularity and the public's trust in the future of the single currency.

However, the economist points out that the risk of the euro future is not high enough to forget a long-term strategic goal of Lithuania.

The passive attitude of the responsible Lithuanian authorities is also reflected in the survey of the Eurobarometer which reveals that 60% of residents in Lithuania say that they do not get enough information about the euro.

However, the study conducted by the European Commission shows that 44% of population support the euro adoption and 5% have not decided yet. Maciulis says that the euro benefits are tangible and easily measured.

"There seems to be a more unanimous agreement to meet Maastricht criteria for the sake of stability, but not necessarily in order to adopt the euro immediately" in Lithuania, Swedbank
economists Nerijus Maciulis and Lija Strasuna said in an e-mailed report.

Lithuania and Latvia are next in line to join the 17-nation Euro Area, while other Eastern European nations such as Poland and the Czech Republic show slow preparations as the debt crisis deepens.

In 2006, Lithuania became the only nation rejected for euro adoption after it missed an inflation target by 0.1 percentage point.

Estonia became the 17th member of the Euro Area in 2011.

The Stockholm arbitration court turned down Gazprom OAO (GAZP)’s complaint over Lithuania’s plan to oust managers representing the Russian gas-export monopoly at the Lietuvos Dujos AB (LDJ1L) gas utility.

The court decided that Gazprom can’t prevent the government from seeking a judicial ruling over the performance of the Lietuvos Dujos management, the Energy Ministry in Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital, said in an e-mailed statement today.

The government sought to oust Lietuvos Dujos’s management, alleging it ignored the interests of Lithuania and didn’t negotiate a fair gas price for Russian supplies.

Gazprom holds 37 percent in the company.
Lithuania is splitting ownership of the gas sales and transmission activities of Lietuvos Dujos as part of a European Union drive to force dominant energy companies to improve access for competitors.

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