Country profile –

conventional long form: Republic of Lithuania/ Lietuvos Respublika NAME: conventional short form: Lithuania/ Lietuva

CAPITAL CITY: (Population: 579 000)

POPULATION: 3 491 000 (2001 census preliminary figure)

2 AREA: 65 300 km Land boundaries: Total 1747 km Border countries: Belarus 724 km, 610 km, 110 km, BOUNDARIES: (Kaliningrad) 303 km Coastline: 99 km REGIONS/ADMINISTRATI 10 counties divided into 44 districts (rajoni) and 11 municipalities VE DIVISIONS: Lithuanian 81 %, Russian 8.5 %, Polish 7 %, Belarussian 1.5 %, ETHNIC GROUPS: other 2 %

GOVERNMENT

FORM OF GOVERNMENT Republic - parliamentary democracy. Present constitution was adopted on 25 October 1992.

HEAD OF STATE President (elected 5 January 2003). The President is elected for a term of 5 years, on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage. The President represents the state and appoints and dismisses senior government officials as provided for in the Constitution, approves and publishes laws adopted by the or returns them for consideration.

Prime Minister (since July 2001). The members of Cabinet are appointed by the President, based on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.

LEGISLATURE Unicameral. Of the 141 members of the Parliament (Seimas), 71 are elected directly by direct popular vote, 70 by proportional representation. The parliamentary term is four years.

GOVERNMENT - ELECTIONS Last parliamentary elections took place in October 2000. The governing coalition, which was led by Prime Minister Rolandas Paksas of the Liberal Union, collapsed on 20 June 2001. On 3 July 2001, the Lithuanian Parliament confirmed the appointment of Algirdas Brazauskas to form a new government. The present coalition consists of the Social Democratic Union and the New Union.

PARLIAMENT COMPOSITION: (OCTOBER 2000 ELECTIONS)

PARTY % VOTE SEATS 2000 SEATS 1996

Social Democratic Union 31.08 51 N/A

Liberal Union (LS) 17.25 34 1

New Union (NS/SL) 19.64 29 N/A

Homeland Union 8.62 9 70

Farmers' Party 4.14 4 2

Christian Democrats 3.08 2 16

Christian Democratic Union 4.21 1 11

Modern Christian Democratic Union 2.01 1 N/A

Others 9.97 10 41

ECONOMY

Source: European Commission, Progress report, October 2002

EU RELATIONS

EUROPE AGREEMENT Signed: 12 June 1995, entered into force in February 1998

EU MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION DATE 8 December 1995

EUROPEAN COMMISSION PROGRESS REPORTS COM (2002) 700 COM (2001) 700 COM(2000) 707 COM(1999) 507 COM(1998) 706

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTIONS ON EC REPORTS 20.11.2002 (A5-0371/2002) 13.06.2002 (A5-0190/2002) 5.09.2001 (A5-0253/2001) 4.10.2000 (A5-0240/2000) 3.12.1998 (A4-0431/1998)

ACCESSION NEGOTIATIONS Opened February 2000. All 31 chapters closed (December 2002). Treaty of Accession signed on 16 April 2003.

PRE-ACCESSION FUNDING The indicative annual Phare allocation for Lithuania from 2000 to 2002 is € 42 million, including cross- border cooperation. Since 2000, Lithuania is also eligible for assistance from ISPA and SAPARD. ISPA project financing totalling between € 41.6 and € 62.4 million will be available annually to Lithuania in the period from 2000. Under the SAPARD programme Lithuania will receive up to € 29.8 million annually.

HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL BACKGROUND

EARLY HISTORY The Baltic tribes probably arrived in Northeastern towards the beginning of the second millenium B.C., eventually settling along the Baltic shores. The first recorded mention of Lithuania was in 1009 AD in the Quedlinburg Annals. The Lithuanian state was founded in the middle of the 13th century by the Grand Duke Mindaugas. In the fourteenth century, the territory of Lithuania began to expand and the marriage of Duke Jagiello to a Polish princess in 1385 created a dynastic union. In 1410, Lithuania and Poland defeated the Teutonic knights at Tannenberg. By the beginning of the fifteenth century, Lithuania was one of the largest countries in Europe. In 1569, to counter the threat from various enemies to the East, Lithuania allied itself with Poland to form the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, ruled by an elected king who was also Grand Duke of Lithuania. From 1648 onwards, the state faced attacks from the Cossacks and Russians and, in the early 18th century, from Sweden. These wars critically weakened the state and, in the partitions of Poland which took place between 1772 and 1795 1795, Lithuania was largely annexed by the Russian Empire.

19TH CENTURY Uprisings against Russian rule were suppressed in 1830-1831 and 1863, and a policy of "russification" was conducted. These pressures to assimilate helped to encourage the development of a national movement from the middle of the century onwards. S 1861: Abolition of serfdom stimulated development of a market economy. S 1863: Lithuanians and Poles rebelled against russification policy. S 1883: First Lithuanian newspaper published in East Prussia - the Lithuanian press was banned in Russia until 1904.

20TH CENTURY S 1915: Lithuania was occupied by German troops. S 1917-1918: In September 1917, a 'Lithuanian Conference' was convened during the German occupation. Independence was declared on 16 February 1918 and the Lithuanian Republic proclaimed in November 1918. A short-lived Boshevik regime was overthrown S 1920-1938: In October 1920, Poland seized the eastern part of the country, including Vilnius. The first democratic constitution was adopted in August 1922. In December 1926, there was a military coup. Nationalist party leader, , became President. The new authoritarian regime lasted until 1940. S 1939-1945: The German-Soviet Treaty agreed in September 1939, allowed the USSR to take control of Lithuania. The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed on 21 July 1940 and on 3 August Lithuania became a Union Republic of the USSR. During the German occupation of 1941-1944, some 210 000 people, mainly Jews, were killed. In 1944, the Soviet army returned and large numbers of people were deported. Although anti-Soviet partisans continued to resist until 1952, political parties were disbanded and power was excercised exclusively by the Lithuanian Communist Party (LCP). Lithuanian agriculture was collectivised and rapid industrialisation took place in the post-war period. S 1980s: Lithuanian nationalism, kept alive by underground and exile groups, resurfaced in the reformist climate following the introduction of the policy of glasnost. In June 1988, the Lithuanian Movement for Reconstruction (Sajudis) was established and won 36 of the popularly-elected seats in the all-Union Congress of People's Deputies in March 1989. The LCP began to adopt an increasingly reformist stance in the face of increasing popular pressure. It declared its independence from the Communist Party of the in December 1989. S 1990: Supreme Council chairman, , declared the restoration of independence on 11 March. S 1991: The temporary suspension of independence agreed with the Soviets was ended in January. The subsequent Soviet military intervention strengthened popular resistance, and a referendum in February 1991 showed 90% support for independence. The collapse of the coup against Michael Gorbachev in August was followed by recognition of Lithuanian independence by other states. On 6 September 1991, the USSR Council also recognised the independence of Lithuania, and Latvia. S 1992: First post-Soviet legislative elections took place in October/November under the new electoral law of July 1992. The Lithuanian Democratic (LDLP), the former LCP, gained a working majority in parliament. S 1993: LDLP leader, Mr Brazauskas was elected President in February and Russian troops withdrew from Lithuania in August.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS S 1996: In the October-November elections, the (formerly Sajudis) formed a coalition government with the Christian Democratic Party of Lithuania. S 1998: In the January presidential election, succeeded Mr Brazauskas. S 2000: In the October parliamentary elections, the LDLP and its electoral coalition partner, the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party , won the largest number of seats but the 'New Policy Bloc' coalition of the Liberal Union (LS) and New Union-Social Liberals (NS-SL) was asked to form a government. Rolandas Paksas (LS) was appointed Prime Minister. S 2001: The NS-SL left the government in June, and a new SD-New Union coalition led by Algirdas Bazauskas was formed in July. S 2003: In January, Rolandas Paksas was elected President in a run-off against the incumbent, Valdus Adamkus. In April, the EU Accession Treaty was signed.

* * * Useful links

European Commission DG Enlargement http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/lithuania/index.htm European Commission Delegation in Lithuania http://www.eudel.lt/

Lithuanian Sites Ministry of Foreign Affairs - EU Integration http://www.urm.lt/data/3/index_e.php Lithuanian Parliament (Seimas) http://www.lrs.lt/ Lithuanian Search Engines (in English) http://www.search.lt http://www.on.lt

Media Baltic Times (in English) http://www.baltictimes.com ELTA agency (English, Lithuania, Russian) http://w2001.elta.lt/sablonas1.php