The European Commission examined the updated stability and convergence programmes (SCPs) of the Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Romania and Slovenia. In line with the Commission's assessments of a first group of fourteen Member States last week, the evaluation must be seen against the background of the economic and financial crisis which has led to a sharp deterioration of public finances since 2009 and triggered the Council decisions to open Excess Deficit Procedures (EDP) for a large majority of Member States.

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Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius has stood up to defend the country following allegations from the EU of widespread homophobia.

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The harsh austerity budget plans of Lithuania’s government have brought anger onto the streets. Cuts in pensions, jobs and other social welfare benefits have been met with furious opposition from citizens. 

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Estonia must admit to itself that it is a small n country that has an open economy, marginal importance and is vulnerable to global downturns.

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The Estonian state has announced an interest in buying back national air carrier Estonian Air, taking over the greater part of the shares from Scandinavian airline giant SAS.

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A recent survey has found that the approval rating of the Lithuanian government has reached a low point, with more than 90 percent of respondents saying they view the Cabinet's work in a negative light. 

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In the northern Finnish province of Lapland many people are still dependent on landlines because mobile phones don't work in many areas. Noting how old the lines are and how bad the quality of the connections is, the daily Lapin Kansa calls for more acceptable technical solutions:

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A third European country has been identified to ABC News as providing the CIA with facilities for a secret prison for high-value al Qaeda suspects: Lithuania, the former Soviet state. Former CIA officials directly involved or briefed on the highly classified program tell ABC News that Lithuanian officials provided the CIA with a building on the outskirts of Vilnius, the country's capital, where as many as eight suspects were held for more than a year, until late 2005 when they were moved because of public disclosures about the program. Flight logs viewed by ABC News confirm that CIA planes made repeated flights into Lithuania during that period.

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On 8 September at Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the first meeting of the Committee of Senior Officials of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (CBSS) was held after Lithuania took over the Presidency of the organisation, which is composed of 11 Baltic Sea States. Lithuania started its CBSS Presidency in July this year.

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