The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania,

representing the political aspirations of Lithuania as a member of the Euro-Atlantic community;

solemnly commemorating the 35^th anniversary of the historic Westminster Address by the President of the United States Ronald Reagan, in which he stressed that “freedom is not the sole prerogative of a lucky few, but the inalienable and universal right of all human beings” and proposed “to foster the infrastructure of democracy, the system of a free press, unions, political parties, universities, which allows a people to choose their own way to develop their own culture”,

drawing attention to the fact that this Address was a vital incentive for democratic states to actively engage in the promotion of democracy, to re-establish the statehood of the Central and Eastern European peoples and to entrench democratic systems;

recalling that the takeover led by the Bolsheviks 100 years ago laid the foundation for the development of the bloodiest ideology in the history of mankind and bears responsibility for tens of millions of victims of Bolshevism, while the destructive ideas of communism have remained alive in some places until now;

expressing concern that over the last eleven consecutive years the number of democracies worldwide has decreased, while increasing authoritarian trends pose an ever greater threat to the rights and freedoms of citizens of various countries;

being convinced that geopolitical security is directly linked to the promotion of democracy in the region and is therefore one of the key political priorities of not only our country but also the Western world as a whole;

having regard to the aggressive Russian foreign policy which aims at disrupting the European security architecture and is responsible for the creeping occupation of Georgia, the continuing aggression in Ukraine, which has already claimed over 10 000 lives, the information warfare being waged against democracies and the interference with electoral processes in sovereign states in the Euro-Atlantic area which poses an increasing threat,

reminds that democracy protects the fundamental principles of a free society which stem from the concept of human dignity and that these principles are developed and fostered best in a democratic system;

emphasises that the strategic Euro-Atlantic Partnership is the essential and indispensable guarantor of European security and is equally important for the United States of America;

urges the Western world at this time of particular threats not only to maintain unity, but also to focus on supporting and enhancing the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms embodied in democracy;

invites to jointly seek comprehensive political, security and financial support of the European Union and the USA for the political and economic reforms taking place in Ukraine and for the democratic opposition forces of Belarus and Russia;

urges the European Union to shape an ambitious vision of the Eastern Partnership policy based on the prospects of full European Union membership of the most advanced countries of the Eastern Partnership, bearing in mind that the success of the reforms provided for in the Association Agreements of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova will largely depend also on the European Union’s political engagement and increased financial incentives;

calls on the Government of the Republic of Lithuania to increase the amount of funds and intellectual resources allocated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania for development cooperation, in particular for democratic development initiatives in Eastern Europe and other priority regions.

 

 

 

SPEAKER OF THE SEIMAS                                                          Viktoras Pranckietis