Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė, Chair of the Committee on European Affairs, at the LXIX plenary meeting of COSAC: ‘We must support Ukraine by all means and prevent the development of pain and sadness on this continent’

Press release of 16 May 2023 

 

16 May saw the second day of the LXIX plenary meeting of the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs (COSAC) in Stockholm, attended by the delegation led by Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė, Chair of the Seimas Committee on European Affairs, and composed of Vytautas Gapšys, Arminas Lydeka and Aurelijus Veryga, Vice Chairs of the Committee.

Photo by the Office of the Committee on European Affairs of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania

 

Strategic objective: sustainable peace

 

Radvilė Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė, speaking on the subject of Ukraine, said: ‘In 1990-1991, the Swedes stood up, in the truest sense of the word, for our freedom 79 Mondays! Today, in Stockholm’s Central Square, they and we stand for Ukraine. Yesterday was the 64^th Monday in the war. I don't know how many more there will be. Every such Monday is already too much. I hope it will not take more than 79... It is important that peace is not partial. We all need to support the kind of peace that is envisaged by Ukraine which has been battered for nine years already.’

 

The politician stressed the importance of not repeating the mistakes of the past. ‘We must maintain our strategic patience and support Ukraine by all means. We cannot repeat the mistakes and be naive as we were in 2008 for Georgia and 2014 for Ukraine. We have to, we simply must to prevent the development of pain and sadness on this continent,’ she said. ‘In my country, every generation has suffered Russian aggression. They committed brutal crimes against humanity, exiled our children to Siberia. And this happened not only in the Baltic States, but also in Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Now they are doing it in Ukraine. Let us support the army, find legal ways to use Russia's frozen assets, include Rosatom, Iran in the sanctions. In addition to the International Criminal Court, there is a need for a special tribunal seeking criminal prosecution for Russia’s crimes of aggression.’

 

Andrius Kubilius, Member of the European Parliament for Lithuania, also spoke at the plenary meeting. He noted that when referring to Ukraine, we had to think about a long-term perspective, not just about military victory. ‘The military victory, I am absolutely certain, will soon be achieved by Ukraine. We must talk about sustainable peace on the European continent, where Ukraine's victory is most important. The only way for sustainable peace on the European continent is to return democracy to Russia and Belarus. Ukraine must defeat Russia in order to crush the imperialist dream. Ukraine deserves an invitation to join NATO at the NATO Summit in Vilnius in July,’ stressed Member of the European Parliament Andrius Kubilius.

Photo by the Office of the Committee on European Affairs of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania

 

Data on the implementation of the green transformation in Lithuania were shared

 

During the plenary meeting, representative of the Lithuanian delegation A. Veryga, spoke about the green transformation. The Member of the Seimas stressed that the Lithuanian Parliament, having approved the National Climate Change Management Agenda, had already set the national goal of climate neutrality by 2050. ‘We have succeeded in reducing our greenhouse gas emission by 58%, which we seek to increase to 70% by 2030,’ said the Member of the Seimas.

 

A. Veryga indicated that at present more than a quarter of Lithuania's energy consumption is renewable energy. ‘We will increase this share to 55% by 2030 and 80% by 2050. We are improving energy efficiency by implementing a long-term programme for the modernisation of multi-apartment buildings and public buildings,’ the representative of Lithuania said.

 

He emphasised that the unprecedented energy crisis caused by Russia's war against Ukraine created additional motivation for the transition to the green economy. Lithuania is jointly committing to carbon neutrality by 2050 and therefore welcomes the goal of raising the EU renewable energy target to 45% by 2030 as set out in the revised Renewable Energy Directive.

 

On 16 May, discussions about Ukraine and green transition were held at the III and IV sessions of the LXIX plenary meeting of COSAC.

 

COSAC stands for the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of the Parliaments of the European Union. The Conference, which is held regularly, enables the national Parliaments and the European Parliament to exchange information and best practices. The Conference may submit any proposal to the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission.

 

Sweden holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from 1 January to 31 July 2023.

 

Prepared by

Aistė Pikiotienė,

Adviser, Office of the Committee on European Affairs of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania,

tel. +370 5 239 6864