Rasa Juknevičienė, Head of the Seimas Delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, designated to become the President of the NATO PA

Press release, 24 March 2018

Photo of the Office of the Seimas (author Olga Posaškova) 

On 24 March 2018, the Standing Committee of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly gathered for a meeting on the premises of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania.

The morning agenda of the meeting included deliberations on appointment of a new President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. The incumbent President Paolo Alli was not re-elected to the Italian Parliament and lost his parliamentary mandate on 23 March 2018. According to the NATO PA rules, Mr Alli will continue to serve as President of the Assembly until the Italian Parliament designates a new delegation to the NATO PA or, in the absence of such designation, for up to six months after the expiration of his parliamentary mandate, i.e. until 23 September. The NATO PA Standing Committee decided that, at the point when Mr Alli can no longer exercise his functions as President, the office of President of the NATO PA will be assumed by Rasa Juknevičienė, Head of the Seimas Delegation to the NATO PA and current Vice-President of the NATO PA.

The next election to the office of President of the NATO PA will take place at the NATO PA Annual Session to be held in Halifax, Canada, in November 2018.

Rasa Juknevičienė from Lithuania is the first woman in history to serve as President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. She has been working at the Assembly since 1999.

Jolanta Anskaitienė, Adviser, Press Office, Information and Communication Department, tel. +370 5 239 6508, e-mail: [email protected]