Address by Juozas Olekas, Speaker of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, to the participants of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly reception at the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre

31 May 2026 

Excellences,

Dear Colleagues,

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a pleasure to welcome you in Vilnius and great honour for the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania to host this year spring session of NATO Parliamentary Assembly.

We see it as an important step in preparation for NATO Parliamentary Summit in Istanbul and NATO Summit in Ankara.

Lithuania is often associated with 

the Centre of Europe, which according to calculation of the French National Geographic Institute, is located roughly 26 kilometres to the North from Vilnius, and around 50 kilometres from NATO Eastern flank boundary,

Lithuanian language, which is named as most archaic in the Indo-European language family,

and strange festival of “pink soup” season – a cold beetroot soup with sour cream and boiled eggs we eat during summers.

When we ask someone to call its name – šaltibarščiai – we easily recognize, in the environment of hybrid threats, who is local and who is not.

My apologies for not being mentioned in the first round

to Lithuania’s second religion basketball and 

the Baltic summers, which unfortunately come only on Tuesdays, when we are at the plenary session meetings. 

However, Lithuania became known as reliable NATO ally, fulfilling its collective obligations, allocating in country’s budget 5.38 percent of the GDP for defence needs, and taking commitment to keep this level of spending for at least next five years. 

As well a strong supporter of Ukraine - nation, which took on its shoulders the heaviest burden for defending international law, democratic values and the future of Europe from Russian aggression. Look around Vilnius full of Ukrainian flags.

Lived through and survived from Soviet occupation and oppression, having gone through democratic political and economic transformation, we very well understand importance of motivation and opportunity, which is so needed to maintain and strengthen believe of the Ukrainian people in Ukraine’s future as part of the European and Transatlantic family.

Dear Colleagues,

As a former head of the Seimas delegation at the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, may I wish you fruitful discussions and contribution in building a strong political will in the national parliaments for necessary decisions responding to Euro-Atlantic security priorities in this global world of uncertainty.

Thank you.