30 September 2010
Mrs Irena Degutienë, Speaker of the Seimas, attended a
commemoration of the Resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of
Europe on the situation of the Baltic States on the twentieth anniversary of
their forcible incorporation into the Soviet Union
held at the plenary sitting of the Seimas. The 29th of September 2010 marks 50
years since the adoption of this Resolution.
In her welcome
address to the participants of the commemoration, the Head of Parliament
recalled that yesterday we marked the 50th anniversary of the resolution on
the situation of the Baltic States on the twentieth anniversary of their
forcible incorporation into the Soviet Union adopted by the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe, which is of historical significance to the
Baltic States.
“This declaration of 1960 and the
Resolution on the Situation in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania adopted by
the European Parliament in 1983 were the key official documents of European
parliamentary institutions condemning the illegal occupation of the Baltic
States. They urged inter alia to apply the
principle of free self-determination of nations when addressing the issue of
the Baltic States,” the Speaker said.
The Speaker of the Seimas underlined that
these resolutions are of political and historical significance. “However,
today, I would like stress the aspect of moral support to and solidarity with
our nations. “Fifty years ago, the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe expressed its conviction, on a
very high level, that Communist oppression would not succeed in crushing the
desire of Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians to live in free and democratic
states,” Mrs Degutienë observed.
The Head
of Parliament also noted that by these documents the institutions of the Western world confirmed that the
citizens of European states had not forgotten the Baltics, that they were not
left on their own to oppose the most powerful empire of the time, and that our
fellow Europeans were anticipating the return of free Baltic States to the
family of European nations. “It was an important sign not only for us, the
occupied Baltic States. It was of great
importance to the entire free Europe, which proved that its policy was
primarily based on values. Therefore, these documents are crucial to all of
us,” Mrs Degutienë said.
The
Speaker of the Seimas extended her gratitude to all those who stood for the
Baltics during the period of occupation and represented our major goals, truth,
and moral ethics. “Today, it is a point of honour to put all our efforts in
order to ensure that Lithuania’s return to the international community and its
presence is marked with meaningful activities and the same values that were
pursued by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, including
respect to people, respect to nations, and respect to their right to be the
architects of their own fortune. Let us properly benefit from the goals of the
nation and the state, which have translated into the opportunities of the
nation and the state,” the Speaker concluded.
Secretariat of the Speaker of the Seimas
Juozas Ruzgys, Advisor to the Speaker of the Seimas
