The Lithuania , officially Republic of Lithuania (in Lithuanian Lietuva , officially Lietuvos Respublika ), is a country of Europe located on Eastern bank of the the Baltic, in the north of the Poland and the south of the Latvia. This country southernmost, more is populated, largest, densément populated as well as tourist of the three Baltic States.

To note that the C-W communication Lithuanie (with a H ) is an old C-W communication; if it remains correct, it is less and less used and it is recommended to prefer Lithuania to him. One finds besides the letter H in the name of the country in various languages where its presence is obligatory.

History

Grand Duchy related to the Poland of the Middle Ages at the 18th century, Lithuania underwent the successive divisions of its large neighbor until the Napoleonean epopee before falling in 1815 in the orbit from the Russia tsarist.

It is constituted in republic independent of 1918 with 1940. Annexed by the Soviet Union, it is occupied by Germany of 1941 with 1945 then becomes a Soviet socialist republic until its new independence in 1991.

See also: History of Lithuania

Relations with the European Union

• the December 8th 1995 Lithuania presents question of adhesion.
• the March 31st 1998 opening of the négociationa of adhesion (finished the December 13rd 2002).
• the April 14th 2003 the European Council approves his adhesion
• the April 16th 2003 Lithuania signs the Treaty of Accession (into force of May 1st 2004).
• the September 11th 2003: 69% of the Lithuanians approve adhesion by Référendum.
• March 16th 2006 Lithuania requires that its subordination to the criteria of convergence be examined;
• the May 16th 2006 the European Central bank and the European commission publish their reports on the respect of the criteria of convergence by Lithuania.

Policy

See also: Political of Lithuania

Lithuania is a parliamentary République. According to the Constitution, ratified in October 1992, the holder of the executive power is the president of the Republic. He is elected by the universal direct suffrage for a five years mandate and appoints the Prime Minister. Its choice must be approved by the Parliament.

The supreme legislative authority is the Seimas, Parlement monocaméral composed of 141 deputies elected for four years. The voters have two ballot papers: the first is used to elect, in 71 districts, of the deputies elected with the majority uninominal system with two turns (the second possible turn being held two weeks after the first), while the second ballot paper is used to express the preference partisane of the voter, who must choose between several blocked lists of 70 names for a single national district. The 70 seats of this second quota are distributed, with proportional, between all the parties which reach or exceed 5% of the votes cast (the total calculation being made at the same time on the personal votes expressed in the 71 districts and on the vote in favor expressed in the single district), the calculation being in addition complicated by the fact that a voter with faculty to express, within the list for which he decides, a preference for with more the five people among those being reproduced on this list.

to see: Parties of Lithuania, Seimas

Subdivisions

See also: Areas of Lithuania

On the administrative level, Lithuania is divided into 10 Apskritis and 44 districts. It has 71 electoral constituencies.

Geography

See also: Geography of Lithuania

Lithuania is delimited in north by the Latvia, in the east and the south by the Bielorussia, in south-west by the Poland and the enclave of the Oblast de Kaliningrad (ex Königsberg) pertaining from now on to the Russia, and the west by the Baltic. The major part of the territory, located in the basin of Niémen, does not exceed 250 m of altitude. The country also has the vast wide ones of marsh, in particular in north and the east, including one great number was drained.

In 1989 a geographer of the national geographical Institut established that the geographical center of Europe was in Lithuania, in the village of Purnuškės to 26 kilometers in the north of Vilnius. The method is based on the concept of Center of gravity of the European territories.

• Towns of Lithuania

Economy

See also: Economy of Lithuania

First Soviet republic to have sought to free itself from the bonds with the USSR, Lithuania particularly suffered from the consecutive economic upheavals to the proclamation of her independence and the collapse of the Eastern bloc.

Demography

See also: Demography of Lithuania

Summary table of the population according to the ethnicity:

• In 1923, the area of Vilnius, whose city was populated mainly of Pole and Jews, belonged to Poland, which had annexed the republic of central Lithuania in 1922. Today, in much of strongholds of the area of Vilnius (Trakai for example), the Poles remain majority. In Vilnius, there exists still much of Polish schools and Russian
• It is probable that the " category; Russes" in 1923 included Belorusses and Ukrainians (officially 43).
• the important minority Jewish of Lithuania was completely destroyed by the Nazis, Lithuania having been occupied by Germany of 1941 to 1945.
• the German or germanized minority (" Memelliens" in the census of 1925), especially presents to Memel (Klaipėda), was expelled by the Red Army in 1945, following the example that of Eastern Prussia (current territory of Kaliningrad).

The prevalent religion is the Catholicisme to 79%, but the Orthodoxie (4,07%), the Protestantisme, the Judaïsme and the Islam also exist, as minority religions. One also finds with Trakai the last karaïtes of Europe. Néo-paganism is reappearing.

Culture

See also: Culture of Lithuania

Others

Lithuania has as codes:

• LTU, according to the standard ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 (code list country)
• LT, according to the standard ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 (code list country)
• LT, according to the international Code list of the number plates,
• LY, according to the List of prefixes ICAO of registration of the aircraft,
• EY, according to the List of the prefixes of codes ICAO of the airports,
• LTU, according to the Code list country of the CIO,
• LTU, according to the Code list countries used by NATO, alpha-3,
• LH, according to the Code list countries used by NATO.

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