Vydas Gedvilas, Speaker of the Seimas, participated in the Parliamentary Forum for Democracy held in the United States Congress.
Photo – Ludo Segers
The Lithuanian Speaker addressed the Forum after the welcoming address by John Boehner, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
“While peace has prevailed and relations between countries have been underpinned by law and mutual trust in Europe for almost 70 years, other regions, unfortunately, still face a totally different reality,” Vydas Gedvilas said. “Developments in Syria and search for decisions remind us of the necessity of a broad international accord on national Parliaments’ responsibilities even in the cases where no easy solutions are available. That is the reality now, and we must act.”
The Speaker reminded that security and welfare were interrelated things. The more security and democracy there is in our neighbourhood and the world, the more stability and welfare we have in our states.
“When we took the steering wheel of the Presidency of the Council of the EU, we identified and, beside our goal of a credible and growing Europe, highlighted another challenge – building of an open Europe capable of effectively addressing global challenges, promoting democratic values, creating a safe environment and focusing on proactively defending citizens’ rights. This brings me to another priority – the EU Eastern Partnership initiative basically aiming at support to those who want to contribute to the implementation of the vision of Europe, whole and free,” said Vydas Gedvilas.
The Seimas Speaker believes that closer inter-parliamentary cooperation is key to us all. That is why the joint event of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committees and the Parliamentary Forum for Democracy titled Parliaments for democracy: towards more ambitious global cooperation will be held in Vilnius.
“Lithuania is proud to have proposed the setting up of the parliamentary dimension of the Community of Democracies, which should encourage parliaments to contribute to the development of democracy worldwide and to offer conditions for new democracies to learn the best practices of parliamentary democracy” ,” Speaker Gedvilas noted.
Tomas Beržinskas, Adviser to the Speaker of the Seimas, tel. +370 5 239 6019, mob. +370 698 42 786,
e-mail: [email protected]
