On February 1 an interinstitutional working group formed by all Lithuanian Ministries held a meeting at the Ministry of National Defence on the indispensable civilian infrastructure and services for hosting the German Brigade.
The interinstitutional working group shared the emerging guidelines of the civilian infrastructure and service creation which encompasses accommodation for the service members and their families, education, healthcare, transport communication. The meeting also addressed the ongoing work that began after the signature of the roadmap document for stationing the German Brigade in Lithuania.
Different models of accommodation, education, childcare, healthcare and transport commination in Lithuania and Germany are considered. Approx. 5 thousand German troops are planned to deploy in Lithuania, approx. 80 percent of them would be stationed at Rūdninkai and the rest – at Rukla.
Several thousand troops are expected to arrive with families and children of different ages. The first to deploy in 2024 plan to begin settling in rented apartments out of what the local real estate will have to offer. At the same time, the long-term accommodation is planned, for the period when all the troops set deploy with family members will be in Lithuania already. As part of that effort, opportunity to develop different parts of Kaunas and Vilnius and living premises in the vicinity of the Rūdninkai and Rukla training areas.
The German children will be able to integrate in Lithuanian schools and pre-school education institutions offering German and English-speaking syllabuses, as far as education and child activity is concerned. In the long-term, German kindergartens for preschoolers are planned to be developed as well as Bundeswehr schools in Vilnius and Kaunas. The education, healthcare and other service development will offer opportunities for Lithuanian businesses as well.
The bilateral roadmap also consolidated an agreement to achieve better transport communications between Lithuania and Germany, therefore flight directions will be added to at least a few German cities.
