Press release, 20 November 2015
On 20 November, the Seimas opened the 34th Session of the Baltic Assembly. Before setting to work, Giedrė Purvaneckienė, President of the Baltic Assembly and Head of the Seimas Delegation to the Baltic Assembly, invited the participants to observe a minute’s silence to honour the victims of the terror acts in France.
The solemn session started with welcome speeches by the Speakers of Parliaments of the three Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
Loreta Graužinienė, Speaker of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, said that over the years, the successful development of the Baltic Assembly activities demonstrated that our three countries shared privileged relations, common historical experience, successful completion of joint tasks, and the wish to build our future together. However, considering the new challenges, the Speaker of the Seimas invited the participants to review the Baltic Assembly priorities, objectives and targets. “Today, security is the most important aspect for our people, our region, and Europe as a whole. With the increasing number of terrorist attacks against civilian population, it becomes clear that our countries, Europe, and the rest of the world are confronted with a challenge to which we can only respond by joining forces. Therefore, we should strengthen our Baltic cooperation in the fields of security and defence”, urged the leader of the parliament.
Moreover, Mrs Graužinienė stressed that as a response to the current geopolitical situation, the BA Legal Affairs and Security Committee had to take a more active stance in tackling security matters and it would be reasonable and necessary to organise more meetings at both the BA and parliamentary levels. The Speaker emphasized that the joint position of the three Baltic States and objective tripartite assessment of the changed security environment would be very relevant for the next year’s NATO Summit in Warsaw.
Then, the leader of the Seimas called for further focus on the implementation of the Eastern Partnership programmes and multilateral assistance to the Eastern Partnership countries. “New challenges should not overshadow our consistent policy on Ukraine”, noted Mrs Graužinienė.
When talking about energy independence of the Baltic region and welcoming the implemented project of the LNG terminal in Klaipeda, the Speaker of the Seimas underlined that it was necessary to urgently take common measures for the opening of the Baltic energy market while fully integrating into the internal energy market of the European Union.
Meanwhile, Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima of the Republic of Latvia, said that Paris terror acts were an assault on European values, and the security issue became more important than ever before. The Speaker of the Saeima stressed that Baltic region’s security was of the highest priority. “There are emerging security challenges both from the South and the East”, said the Latvian Speaker. She noted that in the face of terrorism, we should not forget Russian aggression in Ukraine.
In her speech, Ināra Mūrniece emphasized that Baltic States had not only to increase defence expenditure, but also to reinforce cooperation by coordinating military forces and actions in the region, and to strengthen border security in the Baltic States and strategic communication in combating propaganda.
Finally, Eiki Nestor, President of the Riigikogu of the Republic of Estonia, took note of the current situation in Europe and called for more effective cooperation in promoting the common interests of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. He was convinced that parliamentary and governmental cooperation would allow the Baltic States to take a clear position on the issue of the European border guard.
Photos of the Seimas Office (author Olga Posaškova)
Please find more information on the event on the special webpage (BA2015.lrs.lt) section dedicated to the event.
The BA Session is hosted on an annual basis by the country holding the BA Presidency. The Lithuanian Presidency is due to end on 31 December 2015 and will be transferred to Latvia.
Rimas Rudaitis, Public Relations Unit, Communications Department, Office of the Seimas,
tel. +370 5 239 6132, e-mail: [email protected]
