Baltic Plus Group was established by Lithuania and four other PACE Member States

Press release, 1 October 2019

Algirdas Butkevičius, Head of the Seimas Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and Egidijus Vareikis, Deputy Head of the Delegation, who are currently attending the PACE session in Strasbourg, and their colleagues from Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, and Ukraine have signed a statement on establishing the Baltic Plus Group and abstaining from taking part in the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the Council of Europe.

The delegations of five countries announce the establishment of the Baltic Plus Group in PACE with the goal of holding PACE and its members to the fundamental principles on which it was once established. The member delegations of the Group will continue to safeguard the policy of non-recognition and condemnation of Russia’s occupation and annexation of Crimea, continued military occupation of parts of Eastern Ukraine and parts of Georgia and Moldova.

In their statement, the parliamentarians refuse to attend the official celebration in honour of the 70th Anniversary of the Council of Europe, protesting against the surrender of the Council of Europe values to the disrespectful demands and financial sabotage by the Russian Federation.

Please find the full text of the statement here.

Asta Markevičienė, Chief Specialist, Press Office, Information and Communication Department, tel. +370 5 239 6202, e-mail: [email protected]