“This is a very special day for me. I am standing in the very heart of a proud, beautiful and inspiring country. I feel the closeness of the warm blood which runs through its veins and has always linked us with you – the mighty Lithuanian nation. We are standing underneath the fluttering Baltic flags, recalling what has been achieved during the past quarter of a century and looking with confidence at future challenges,” said Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, on Wednesday, 11 March, in her address at the raising of the flags of the Baltic States at the Independence Square in Vilnius during the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Restoration of Independence of Lithuania.
Press releases
On Tuesday, 17 March, within the framework of the visit of the highest officials of the Baltic and Nordic parliaments to Ukraine, Gundars Daudze, Deputy Speaker of the Saeima, met with Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe. During the meeting, participants addressed the situation in Ukraine, as well as the role and extent of parliamentary support to the reform processes in Ukraine.
“The Baltics are being buried under an avalanche of Russia’s propaganda. The goal of the information war is to turn individuals who use the aggressor’s media into tools in the hands of the aggressor. In a hybrid war, the aggressor’s media do not offer true information; instead they manipulate facts in order to create confusion, delusion and fear,” emphasised Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, on Thursday, 12 March, at the opening of the Baltic Media Seminar during her visit to Lithuania.
On Thursday, 5 March, Ināra Mūrniece, Speaker of the Saeima, at the opening of a high-level foreign policy and defence conference emphasised: “Europe has sobered up during the last year. Over a relatively short period, the international society realised that some international agreements are actually ineffective, as was the case with the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances signed in 1994, which, among other issues, stipulates Ukraine’s territorial integrity. The sanctity of its borders is violated. The values are challenged”.
Kalniņš at the high-level foreign policy and security conference: As a global player, the EU must look in all directions (05.03.2015.)
“I can only agree with High Representative Mogherini that the European Union is a global superpower. However, to be a real global player, the EU must look in all directions because we have neighbours in all four directions – north, south, east and west”, said Ojārs Ēriks Kalniņš, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Saeima on Thursday, 5 March as he opened the high-level conference on foreign policy and security in Riga.
On Thursday, 5 March, Ainars Latkovskis, Chairman of the Defence Committee of the Saeima, opened the second session of a high-level foreign policy and security conference dedicated to better cooperation between the EU and NATO in view of new security challenges. He pointed out that since 22 of EU member states are also members of NATO, these states share one pool of defence resources in order to achieve the military goals of both organisations. Therefore, closer cooperation and coordination between the EU and NATO in areas such as planning of defence capabilities and military training are particularly important.
Invitation to a press conference on EU’s security, foreign policy and challenges in its relations with Russia (02.03.2015.)
On Thursday, 5 March, on the sidelines of a high-level foreign policy conference organised by the Saeima, a press conference will be held on necessary changes in the EU’s foreign and security policy, as well as future challenges in its relations with Russia. Journalists will also have a doorstep briefing opportunity with High Representative Mogherini.
Conference on foreign and defence policy organised by the Saeima will gather international experts (02.03.2015.)
International foreign policy experts will gather at the Conference on foreign and defence policy organised by the Saeima. This Interparliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy held in Riga on 5–6 March is one of the six interparliamentary events organised by the Saeima within the framework of the parliamentary dimension of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the EU.
On 5-6 March in Riga, the Saeima will hold a conference on foreign policy which will gather nearly 300 parliamentarians from EU member states, high officials from the EU and NATO, as well as international foreign policy experts. The Interparliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy will be one of the six interparliamentary events organised by the Saeima within the framework of the parliamentary dimension of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the EU.
Aija Barča: Regaining European citizens’ trust depends on our ability to resolve social challenges (23.02.2015.)
On Monday, 23 February, Aija Barča, Chairperson of the Social and Employment Matters Committee of the Saeima, addressed her counterparts from the parliaments of all the EU member states who had gathered in the Saeima to participate in the Meeting of the Chairpersons of the Committees on Employment and Social Affairs, which is one of the events of the Parliamentary Dimension of the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. In her address, Barča emphasised that the regaining of European citizens’ trust depends on professional and effective resolution of social challenges.