JEF pledges EUR 12 billion aid to Ukraine, new Lithuanian government takes over
Court rules against Lithuanian “don’t say gay” law
The members of the 10-nation Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) meeting in the Estonian capital Tallinn December 17 said they will provide EUR 12 billion in military aid to Ukraine in 2025 and will push for Ukraine’s NATO membership as the best security guarantee for the country that has been invaded by Russia since 2022, Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal said at a press conference.
“I am proud to say that JEF countries will provide Ukraine with over 12 billion euros in military assistance 2025. With the 10 leaders gathered here in Tallinn, there was no need for compromise,” Michal said, speaking as host of the JEF summit.
“Our united position remains clear. We strongly support Ukraine's pathway to NATO membership today and in the future. Estonia is confident that joining NATO is the strongest security guarantee for Ukraine,” Michal declared.
The Estonian Prime Minister also referred to a decision by JET members late December 16 to demand proof of insurance from ships entering the Baltic Sea and in the Gulf of Finland in order to disrupt the use of a “shadow fleet” of ships transporting oil and other sanctioned cargos to and from Russia.
Michal said that Estonia had already checked some 250 ships since the summer and had boarded seven ships to ensure compliance with the insurance check.
The Estonian Prime Minister’s remarks at the end of the JEF meeting reflected the official statement adopted in Tallinn.
JEF will cooperate to disrupt the ghost fleet
On the issue of the “ghost fleet” the statement said:” We also agreed to work even closer together to disrupt and deter the Russian shadow fleet of crude oil tankers that circumvent international sanctions, directly fund the Russian war effort in Ukraine, and pose a threat to our nations and our waters.”
The statement went on to say that “ shadow fleet vessels, along with their enablers, should be in no doubt as to our determination to identify and counter their activity and ultimately to hold them to account in accordance with international law. To that end, we strongly support the separate commitment made yesterday by the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Poland, and Estonia to challenge suspected shadow fleet vessels transiting certain maritime areas and straits in our region to request relevant proof of insurance.”
An AI image of a Swedish patrol boat approaching a suspected ghost fleet tanker in the Baltic Sea.
On the broader and main issue discussed at the JEF summit – Ukraine- the statement said: “We reiterate that Ukraine’s victory is vital to all our security and the preservation of rules-based international order. We call on all third countries, including DPRK (North Korea), Belarus, Iran-, and China, which are directly or indirectly enabling Russia’s aggression, to cease offering the support Moscow requires to prolong the war and the suffering of the Ukrainian people.”
The statement echoed British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s remarks December 16 at a panel discussion in the Estonian capital that the introduction of North Korean troops into Russia’s war against Ukraine signaled an expansion of the conflict beyond just Russia versus Ukraine to beyond Europe.
The JEF members, all also NATO allies, will also urge all other NATO countries to raise defense spending above 2 % of gross domestic product (GDP), Michal said, echoing the joint statement in which JEF members “reaffirmed our enduring commitments to NATO’s Defense Investment Pledge, recognizing that the current security environment requires to spend well beyond 2% of GDP. We remain dedicated to meeting NATO’s capability targets, ensuring the execution of the new regional defense plans, and demonstrating European commitment to invest robustly into defense.”
JEF is a 10-member defense and security framework which includes the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Latvia, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Finland and Lithuania.
Lithuania’s Constitutional Court invalidates “don’t say gay” law
Lithuania’s Constitutional Court has declared unconstitutional a law that prohibits informing minors about same-sex (LGBT) relationships to protect the concept of a family based on marriage between a man and a woman.
In a press release published on the court’s website December 18, the court said “Such legal regulation, which imposes restrictions on the freedom to receive and impart information, including by limiting information about the diversity of family models and interpersonal relationships, hindering the formation of minor children as mature, full-fledged personalities, is incompatible with the constitutional duty of the state to ensure the harmonious and comprehensive development of the child.”
The Law on the Protection of Minors from Negative Effects of Public Information declared unconstitutional by the court stated that minors are adversely affected by information that “denigrates family values and promotes a different concept of marriage and family formation from that enshrined in the Constitution and the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania”.
The previous centrist coalition government under Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte in February asked the Constitutional Court to rule on what could be called Lithuania’s “don’t say gay” law after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled in early 2023 against a ban on distribution of a Lithuanian children’s book that described same-sex relationships with reference to the law to protect minors from LGBT-related information.
Following the ECHR ruling, the Lithuanian parliament or Seimas in November 2023 voted against removing or changing the law restricting information about LGBT relations to minors that has been in force since 2009. The government then moved to put the matter before the Constitutional Court to avoid damage to Lithuania’s reputation from ignoring an ECHR ruling.
In the statement explaining its ruling, the court also affirmed that a family could include relationships beyond a married male and female couple. “According to the Constitution, all families are protected and protected, which corresponds to the constitutional concept of the family based on the content of relations between family members of a permanent or long-term nature, and the form of expression of these relations is of no fundamental importance for the constitutional concept of the family. Unlike the constitutional concept of marriage, the constitutional concept of the family is gender neutral, among other things,” the statement said.
New Lithuanian government takes power
The Lithuanian parliament or Seimas on December 12 confirmed the new three-party coalition government under Social Democratic (LSDP) Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas and the government’s program, which allocates 3.5 % of gross domestic product (GDP) for defense in the NATO-member Baltic country bordering on hostile Russia and Belarus.
The 85 to 14 vote with 28 abstentions for the government program in the 141-member lawmaking body was followed by the swearing in of 14 new ministers from Paluckas LSDP, the center left Democratic Union – “For Lithuania” (DSVL) and ministers backed by the controversial Nemuno Aušra (NA) party, described as populist and with a leader accused of antisemitism.
The government program listed “Russian aggression and a complex geopolitical situation, a fundamentally shaken international order, a deepening climate crisis, the unpredictable development of artificial intelligence, the unbridled growth of the influence of large global corporations, the threat of diseases spreading around the world, the ever-increasing cost of living” as major challenges facing the new government, which replaces the centrist-conservative coalition under outgoing Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte.
On security issues, the government program says “We will ensure the permanent deployment of a German brigade in Lithuania in 2027. We will strengthen the capabilities of the Lithuanian Armed Forces, prioritizing the creation of a national division. We will cooperate with NATO partners to strengthen collective defense capabilities. We will expand military support to Ukraine, aiming for it to amount to no less than 0.25% of GDP.”
The new government also plans to address domestic and economic issues in its 77 page program. “We will curb the impact of prices on people's lives by increasing their income. We will improve the conditions for starting a family and raising children in Lithuania. We will ensure wage growth in the public and private sectors, reduce poverty and income inequality,” the document says.
Following the vote on the government program, the new ministers, starting with Prime Minister Paluckas, recited their oaths of office before the assembled Seimas and the chairman of the parliament, Saulius Skvernelis, laying one hand on a Bible and then signing an official document in leather covers.
Among the “power ministers” in the new government are Kestutis Budrys, 44, Minister of Foreign Affairs, former advisor to President Gitanas Nauseda and an ex-domestic intelligence officer. He is educated as a political scientist and told local media in a interview in early December that he accepted the post of Foreign Minister because of the tense international situation.
When serving as minister, “the issue of security, defense, and the entire security architecture in general would be in the forefront, and that is what motivates me,” Budrys said
Dovilė Šakalienė, a 46-year old psychologist and children’s rights activist took the oath as Minister of Defense. Writing on her Facebook page, the new Defense Minister said “universal defense must connect everyone. From warrior, to recruit, to rifleman, to medic, to bread baker, to journalist, to judge.”
On Ukraine, she wrote: “The world can't afford to sacrifice Ukraine - the frozen war will explode with double force. We have to give 0.25% of GDP to Ukraine ourselves and encourage others. We have to work in all possible formats to block the way for the triumph of the axis of evil against democracies..”
Vladislavas Kondratrovičius, 52, educated in business management and of Polish ancestry, became Minister of Internal Affairs, in charge of police and domestic security services.
Rimantas Mockas, a lawyer, selected by Nauseda after rejecting a candidate proposed by NA, was sworn in as Minister of Justice. He has told local media that his priorities will be “strengthening constitutional legal protection, strengthening the independence and authority of the Lithuanian court systems, strengthening the institute of assistant judges, strengthening the legal protection of lawyers.”
The swearing in of the new cabinet of ministers ended a political transition that began when the LSDP won the two-stage national elections in October, unseating the incumbent center-conservative government.
Preliminary study of Vilnius plane crash black boxes shows no sabotage
The crash on November 25 of a Spanish-owned Boeing 737 aircraft while trying to land at the airport in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius was not caused by “unlawful interference” or sabotage, according to a preliminary analysis of the airplane’s flight recorders, the Lithuanian Ministry of Justice said December 20.
The flight recorders or black boxes of the Swiftair aircraft flying for the parcel delivery company DHL were recovered from the crash site and sent to German Federal Aircraft Accident Investigation Office, which reported its preliminary findings to the Lithuanian authorities.
The Boeing plane crashed near Vilnius Airport in the early hours of November 25, killing one person from Spain and injuring three others. It was flying to Vilnius from Leipzig, Germany, a major hub for DHL operations.
The crash also damaged and set afire a building on the ground, forcing evacuation of its residents, but there were no injuries reported aside from the flight crew members and one fatality on the airplane.
Shortly after the crash, investigators from Germany and Spain arrived and both the US and European Union (EU) aviation accident investigation authorities were informed.
The crash of the Boeing 737 was the first accident involving a large commercial airliner since Lithuania regained its independence more than 34 years ago.
Concerns about possible sabotage were raised after it was reported that incendiary devices, allegedly planted by Russian secret services, were sent by DHL from Lithuania and burst into flames at DHL facilities in Leipzig and Birmingham in the United Kingdom.
Baltic presidents react on X to Magdeburg Christmas market attack
The presidents of all three Baltic countries, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on December 21 expressed shock and expressed condolences to the victims and their families after at the Christmas market attack in Magdeburg the night before.
Estonian president Alar Karis writing on X (formerly Twitter) called the attack “deeply shocking and heartbreaking.”
“I am shocked by the news of the insane attack at #Magdeburg Christmas Market in Germany. My thoughts and condolences are with the families and friends of the victims and I wish speedy recovery to all the injured,” Latvian President Edgars Rinkevičs wrote on X.
Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nauseda said it a post on X that he was “shocked by the bloody attack at the Magdeburg Christmas Market” adding that “may all those injured recover as soon as possible.”
Lithuania is in the process of preparing for the deployment of a full German brigade on its territory, the largest planned stationing of German troops outside of Germany. All three Baltic countries had significant German minorities in the inter-war period.
According to media reports, four adults and a child were killed in the Magdeburg attack and dozens injured when a man drove a car at high speed through crowds at the Christmas market, apparently evading barricades set up to prevent such attacks.
A man, said to be a 50-year-old Saudi citizen and psychiatrist at a clinic in a nearby tow was arrested by German police as the driver of the car. He has been in Germany since 2006. His motive for the attack may have been anti-Islamic feelings and anger at the German authorities for their treatment of Saudi asylum seekers who, like the suspect, had abandoned Islam.