Press release, 13 March 2014
Loreta Graužinienė, Speaker of the Seimas, visited Italy on the invitation of Laura Boldrini, President of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament, and Evangelos-Vasileios Meimarakis, Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament. She took part in an international conference organised to discuss economic growth and employment in the EU.
Photo of the Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in Italy
At her bilateral meeting with su Laura Boldrini, President of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament, Mrs Graužinienė discussed the upcoming European elections. Ms Boldrini commended Lithuania’s performance during its Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The leader of the Chamber of Deputies thanked the Speaker of the Seimas for the invitation to take part in and make an address during the Conference of Speakers of European Union Parliaments due to take place in the Seimas in Vilnius on 6–8 April 2014. The meeting participants also discussed the situation in Ukraine.
“Ukraine is going through hard times. Therefore, the EU should unite its efforts and express unwavering and unified support to Ukraine,” Mrs Graužinienė said.
Laura Boldrini, President of the Chamber of Deputies, went on to assure the Speaker of the Seimas that Italy shared the opinion of Lithuania and supported the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
“To my opinion, the planned referendum on the status of the Crimea is not legalised and conflicts with the Constitution and laws of Ukraine,” Mrs Boldrini said.
The Speaker of the Seimas also met with Pietro Grasso, President of the Senate of the Italian Republic, for a bilateral meeting.
Currently, Lithuania and Italy form part of the Presidency Trio of the Council of the European Union. In the beginning of the year 2014, Lithuania handed over the rotating presidency to Greece, and six months later Greece will pass it on to Italy. In addition, the Seimas Republic of Lithuania now presides over the Conference of Speakers of the EU Parliaments. After the Conference of Speakers of European Union Parliaments on 6–8 April 2014 is over, Italy will assume the Presidency of the Conference and organise the next EU Speakers’ Conference in spring 2015.
Secretariat of the Speaker of the Seimas, tel. + 370 5 239 6002
Dalia Valentienė, Adviser to the Speaker of the Seimas, tel. + 370 5 239 6030, mob. +370 698 42 786
