Seimas delegation attends a Session of the Assembly of Members of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, the Sejm and Senate of the Republic of Poland, and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to discuss new developments in the region

Press release, 6 December 2021 

A delegation, led by Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, Speaker of the Seimas, and including Paulius Saudargas, Deputy Speaker of the Seimas; Žygimantas Pavilionis, Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs; and Vytautas Bakas, Silva Lengvinienė, Jonas Pinskus, Rimantė Šalaševičiūtė and Kęstutis Vilkauskas, MPs, are on a working visit to Warsaw, Republic of Poland to attend the 11th Session of the Assembly of Members of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, the Sejm and Senate of the Republic of Poland, and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. This is the first physical meeting between the three national delegations since the last Session in Kiev on 7-8 June 2019.

Photo by Olga Posaškova, Office of the Seimas

‘The active remote engagement among the partners of the Assembly will finally switch to live meetings. On Sunday, the new Seimas delegation, together with representatives of the Sejm and Senate of the Republic of Poland and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, will discuss the most pressing matters for both our region and the European Union as a whole and certainly will also cover migration threats. I believe that we will find common solutions and withstand the attempts to divide us and rewrite our history’, says Čmilytė-Nielsen, Head of the Seimas Delegation to the Assembly.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of Lithuania’s diplomatic relations with Poland and Ukraine and the 230th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of 3 May 1791 of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Mutual Pledge of the Two Nations. At the Session, members of the Assembly will discuss new developments in the region, including, among others, the pandemic situation, the hybrid operation of Belarus at the borders of Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland, and the build-up of military forces at the Ukrainian borders.

The Assembly is also going to adopt a document reiterating Lithuania’s and Poland’s support for Ukraine and its aspirations for membership of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The document also calls on the EU, NATO and other allies to take every possible early measure to prevent any possible Russian aggression against Ukraine and deplores the fact that the Lukashenko regime, with the participation of state authorities and border services, organises irregular movement of foreigners and third country nationals to the territories of Lithuania, Poland and Latvia, and also to the territory of the European Union, weaponising migration for a hybrid attack to reach the regime’s own purposes.

Photo by Olga Posaškova, Office of the Seimas

Milda Žvinienė, Chief Specialist, International Relations Unit, Office of the Seimas, tel. +370 5 239 6220, e-mail: [email protected]

Monika Kutkaitytė, Adviser, Press Office, Information and Communication Department,

tel. +370 5 239 6666, e-mail: [email protected]