An institution has been opened in Lithuania that will influence the European Union's (EU) labor market policies.

The EU Gender Institute in Vilnius will collect and analyze information on issues related to gender, which will then be used by the economic and monetary union to determine policies.

The agency has been assigned a budget of €52.5 million until 2013, which it will use to employ 30 people.

The center was officially opened by Vladimir Spidla, European commissioner for employment, social affairs and equal opportunities, alongside the Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaite.

Ms Grybauskaite claimed that the institute will "consolidate democratic values and protect human rights".

She said: "The EU Gender Institute is important for Lithuania because this means that our state will take the lead in the area of gender equality and will have the possibility to call together professionals from Europe and from all over the world and to make proposals."

Earlier this month, the data agency Eurostat named Lithuania among three EU states were labor costs declined in the third quarter of 2009.