Wednesday

29th Nov 2023

Lithuania president: Take new members to make EU stronger

  • Lithuania’s president Gitanas Nausėda called for the those resposible for the crime of aggression to be held accountable (Photo: European Parliament)
Listen to article

Lithuania's president Gitanas Nausėda on Tuesday (14 March) urged the EU to continue supporting Ukraine and to keep its doors open to Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine.

"The fight in the battlefields in Ukraine is a freedom fight, not only for Ukrainians but it is our freedom fight," he told MEPs in Strasbourg as part of a series of speeches by EU leaders to European lawmakers.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

"The most effective way to expand the space for peace, stability, and prosperity in Europe has been and will continue to be further enlargement of the EU," Nausėda said, adding these things cannot be take for granted anymore.

"If we wanted to make the EU stronger, let's embrace new members," he argued and welcomed the decisions to allow candidate status last year for Ukraine and Moldova.

Nausėda claimed that the next target of Russian president Vladimir Putin will be the Baltic countries and Poland, "maybe Romania". He added that there may be further targets if "Putin is not stopped in Ukraine".

Nausėda, who was a central banker before becoming president in 2019, highlighted Lithuania's massive public support for Ukraine, saying that his country donates almost 1.5 percent of its GDP to Ukraine.

Last May, Lithuanians raised €6m to buy a combat drone, and this February they raised €14m for tactical radars, he said.

Distorted memory

Nausėda recalled that the European Parliament was the first international institution that stood by the Baltic states, saying that in 1983 the parliament condemned the Soviet occupation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.

Lithuania has been occupied by the Soviet Union for much of the second half of the 20th century. It became the first Soviet-occupied state to declare the restitution of independence in 1990.

It took another three years for the Soviet army to completely leave the country of almost three million people.

"We are all paying a heavy price for failing to learn the lessons of the second world war," he said.

Nausėda argued that while the world "rejoiced" overcoming the Nazi regime, it overlooked the crimes of the Soviet totalitarian regime.

"These crimes went unpunished and it allowed the Soviet Union and later Russia to glorify perpetrators of war crimes, ethnic cleansing and other crimes agains humanity," he said.

He said that the "distorted memory of the Second World War was instrumentalised in Russia and beyond to justify the atrocities committed today".

He called on sanctions against Russia to be strengthened and those responsible for the crimes of aggression against Ukraine to be held responsible.

"It is deeply distressing that this unspeakable terror has returned to Europe," he said referring to alleged war crimes committed across Ukraine.

"Unexposed evil kept in silence year after year not only poses a constant threat to the fundamental European values, but also prevents the Russian people from conforming their own past," Nausėda argued, saying those those responsible for crimes of aggression need to be held accountable.

Lithuanian is one of the EU countries that is supporting the setting up a special international tribunal to investigate crimes of aggression.

Prosecuting the crime of aggression means going after the top military and political leadership. But any court able to do that needs broad international support.

So far no EU consensus has emerged on what type of tribunal to back on the international stage.

Lithuania law to allow 'volunteer' border guards to use violence

Lithuania's parliament passed a controversial new law allowing volunteers from around Europe to join its national border guard force — while giving them the right to use violence against asylum seekers and migrants crossing in from Belarus.

Opinion

The EU's 'no added sugars' fruit-juice label sleight-of-hand

The Food Information to Consumers package would have finally regulated the health or nutrition claims companies make on their products, claims like "heart-healthy" "30-percent less fat" or "no added sugar". Legislation on these claims is now 15 years overdue.

Column

How centre-right conservatives capitulate to the far-right

Many conservatives in Europe seem to have forgotten the lesson of 1930s Germany. They sacrifice their principles on the altar of the polls and all-too-often try to overtake rightwing radicals on their own pet subjects like security or migration.

Latest News

  1. Finland's closure of Russia border likely violates asylum law
  2. The EU's 'no added sugars' fruit-juice label sleight-of-hand
  3. EU belittles Russia's Lavrov on way to Skopje talks
  4. Member states stall on EU ban on forced-labour products
  5. EU calls for increased fuel supplies into Gaza
  6. People-smuggling profits at historic high, EU concedes
  7. EU bets big on fossil hydrogen and carbon storage
  8. How centre-right conservatives capitulate to the far-right

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  2. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  3. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  4. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  5. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  6. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  2. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  4. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations
  5. International Sustainable Finance CentreJoin CEE Sustainable Finance Summit, 15 – 19 May 2023, high-level event for finance & business
  6. ICLEISeven actionable measures to make food procurement in Europe more sustainable

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us