EU Membership

The Ministry of Social Security and Labour (hereinafter referred to as the Ministry) consistently pursues the EU membership commitments in the area of social policy and employment. Following the positions of the Republic of Lithuania which have been drafted in advance and coordinated with interested parties, the staff of the Ministry regularly take part in the activities of the EU institutions in considering the EU draft legislation and discussing the opportunities and practice of its implementation. Taking into account the newly adopted EU directives and other legislation, the plan on the transposition of the EU directives and implementation of the law is constantly updated and the national legislation is developed to have the provisions of the EU directives transposed into the Lithuanian legal system.

The staff of the Ministry take active part in the committee meetings organised by the Commission monitoring the implementation of strategies and programmes, fulfilment of financial commitments as well as discussing other relevant issues. Most of the meetings are coordination meetings of the governing bodies of the European Social Fund and technical working groups, Administrative Commission on Coordination of Social Security Systems and European Community Initiative Equal. In addition, they take part in the meetings of the following committees and working groups: Expert Working Party on Personal Protective Equipment, Advisory Committee on Social Protection of Migrant Workers, Advisory and Technical Committee on Freedom of Movement of Workers, Advisory Committee on Employee Safety and Health, Common Committee on Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows, EMCO Indicators’ Working Group and the Indicators’ Working Party of the Social Protection Committee, Advisory Committee on approximation of legislation of the Member States relating to machinery, Implementation Committee of the Community Action to prevent violence against children, youth and women, High Level Working Party on Joint Social Responsibility Issues, High Level Working Group of Member States’ Representatives on Disability, High Level Expert Working Party on Demographical and Family Issues, High Level Expert Working Party on Anti-Discrimination. Furthermore, Lithuanian representatives take part in the meetings of management boards of the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions and the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.

Plans for the transposition of the EU directives and implementation of law are developed using a special information system of Lithuania’s membership in the EU, LINESIS. The system registers entries on the stages of transposition of legislation and its implementation. Taking into account the newly adopted EU directives and other legislation, the plan on the transposition of the EU directives and implementation of the law is constantly updated and the national legislation is developed to have the provisions of the EU directives transposed into the Lithuanian legal system. The departments of the Ministry co-operate to develop proposals for the transposition and implementation of the EU legislation which are registered and stored in the LINESIS database. In addition, the EU legislation is subject to review. There is a constant monitoring of implementation of registered measures: on a monthly basis, the Ministry submits standardised information on the implementation of the measures to the European Law Department under the Ministry of Justice.

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