Highest-level events are scheduled to take place at the National Art Gallery, the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, and congress center LITEXPO, according to Paulius Nemira, deputy director of the VIP Protection Department.
"All events are divided into categories from the highest to the lowest, from meetings of highest-ranking leaders to meetings of expert-level working groups. We, the VIPPD, will have to ensure security at nine events which are the highest-level events. Other events, which are not part of our agenda, will involve certain lower-level security measures, with the police in charge of a number of them," Nemira said.
In his words, there will be ordinary security measures involved. Persons under protection, including heads of delegations of a certain rank, will have bodyguards, the hotels they will live in will be checked and guarded, vehicles and drivers will also be checked, event venues will be guarded. "Guard posts will be installed at the venues, the perimeter will be guarded and permit systems will be introduced," he said.
Since the department staff will not be enough, other services will help.
"Our human resources are limited but we are dealing with this issue in cooperation with the police, the Public Security Service, as well as people from the Ministry of National Defense, the Military Police. We have a certain practice during major events when we are short on bodyguards and then we involve people either from the military or internal service system who are officers and specially-trained for the job and have completed bodyguard or security post training," Nemira said.
Lithuanian police are also preparing for EU presidency events, Saulius Gagas, head of the Public Police Board, told BNS.
"During the presidency, the police, in cooperation with other institutions, will ensure the security of A-level events, as well as other events, and lead to event venues and ensure traffic security," he said.
Apart from the VIPPD, the Police Department, and the Public Security Service, other state institutions, including the Fire and Rescue Department and the State Border Guard Service, will be in charge of ensuring security during EU presidency events, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told BNS.
Moreover, private security company G4S Lietuva will be also involved, and its staff will be on duty during informal meetings of EU ministers, conferences, as well as the launch of the Lithuanian EU presidency event in Vilnius.
"The company will provide protection services for free," the ministry told BNS.
During the presidency period, all high-level meetings will be held in Vilnius. Official dinners will take place at the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania. Working sessions of informal ministerial meetings will be held at the National Art Gallery, and some events will take place at the congress center LITEXPO.
Expert-level meetings will be held not only in Vilnius but also in Kaunas, central Lithuania, Druskininkai, southern Lithuania, Trakai, eastern Lithuania, and Klaipėda on the coast. While in Klaipėda, officials will also be offered tours around Klaipėda and to the coastal towns of Palanga and Nida.
Around 70 meetings of social partners, held by nongovernmental and public organizations, representatives of the areas of science, business, and culture, will be held during the presidency. They will also take place not only in Vilnius but also in other Lithuanian cities and towns, including Kaunas, Klaipėda, Marijampolė, Alytus, Trakai, and Anupriškės.
Lithuania will take over the rotating EU presidency on July 1.
