Opening speech at 25th anniversary of Independence of Lithuania celebration

Honourable Speaker Graužinienė,

Dear Colleagues from the European Parliament and the Seimas,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

25 years ago, wherever one looked in Europe, the spark of freedom had been lit:

In the Gdansk shipyards, where Solidarność was shutting down mines and shipyards and as a genuine workers’ movement, showed up the self-styled workers’ state for what it really was and ultimately brought down the regime.

The spark of freedom had been lit in Prague where the Velvet Revolution unfolded against the background of demonstrations on Wenceslas Square. Hundreds of thousands of people joined the call ‘Havel to the Hrad’ and brought down the government. The spark of freedom had been lit in Leipzig and Berlin; where people took the streets shouting "we are the people" ,again and again "we are the people". Until they brought down the Berlin Wall, that symbol of division, the division of Germany and of Europe. And the spark of freedom had been lit in Vilnius.

On 23 August 1989 people formed a human chain stretching from Vilnius via Riga to Tallinn. 1.8 million people, standing hand in hand in three Baltic states, commemorated the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. At impromptu night-time meetings, people sang together.

And so, the peoples of the Baltic sang their way to independence in this peaceful revolution. How easy it would have been for the demonstrations to end in tragic bloodshed. As they did in Berlin in 1953, in Budapest in 1956, in Prague in 1968 or in Beijing in 1989. There was no guarantee that banners, candles and flowers, songs and prayers, would triumph over tanks and rifles, over walls and borders. We must keep that in mind if we want to understand the extraordinary courage which these people showed, the fears they faced and overcame - all because they wanted to live in a free and just society. We are heavily indebted to these courageous people.

Ladies and gentlemen,

a Lithuanian colleague once told me it still felt like a miracle that Lithuania, after centuries of history marked by suffering, after centuries of occupation and oppression, is now a free and democratic country within the European family - and indeed that the Lithuanians are now better off than at any time in their long history.

Due to its geographical position, Lithuania has undergone immeasurable suffering over many centuries.

Hemmed in between the great powers of Germany and Russia, independence and freedom were rare fortunate exceptions - oppression and bloodshed the unhappy rule.

Who, in the 1940s, when Lithuania was suffering endlessly under the brutal occupation of Nazi Germany, which had murdered almost all its Jewish population, who could then have imagined that Lithuania could today be part, with Germany, of a peaceful and united Europe?

Who, in the midst of the Cold War, could have imagined that thanks to the ‘singing revolution’, and following a referendum, self-determination would win the day and Lithuania would achieve independence as the first Baltic country in 1990?

It became reality:

Lithuania became free and independent. And yet this revolution and the integration of Europe were only complete when people striving for freedom tore down the Iron Curtain and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe were finally able to join the European Union. For the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe, these revolutions were about much more than just throwing off the Soviet yoke. They were also about a ‘becoming part of Europe again’ - one of the guiding principles behind the 1989 movements. As the great historian Tony Judt has written, ‘The opposite of communism was not “capitalism”, but rather “Europe”’. For them, Europe meant freedom and justice. Democracy and solidarity. Prosperity and safety.

Ten years ago, on 16 April 2003, Lithuania signed the EU Accession Treaty together with nine other candidate countries. The effect of this was not to enlarge Europe but to overcome its artificial division. The new members did not become Europeans - they always had been Europeans. But this belated reunification of Europe at last gave all Europeans the chance of peace and freedom. But the hard times were not over for Lithuania: following the global economic crisis the country suffered an alarming collapse, with its economy shrinking by 15%.

I visited Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania a few times during that period. I was deeply impressed with the dignity, calmness and at the same time determination with which people faced up to the economic crisis. Immense sacrifices were demanded of the Lithuanian people: public expenditures and pensions were cut drastically. Yes, people in Lithuania accepted harsh sacrifices and yet, in spite of those sacrifices, people never lost faith in Europe. Put yourselves in the shoes of the Lithuanian people: understandably, joining the EU gave rise to the hope of a better future. And then, barely five years after accession, came the shock of a deep economic crisis. In spite of this experience the Lithuanians held steadfastly to their faith in the EU.

They did not make Brussels a scapegoat. On the contrary, the Lithuanians are still one of the most pro-European peoples, with more than two thirds of them enthusiastic supporters of the EU and this January they successfully joined the ranks of the Eurozone i.

No, the Lithuanians are no fair-weather Europeans. The Lithuanians hold firmly to the idea of Europe in good times and in bad. The Lithuanian people had to undergo immeasurable suffering in its history; they had to fight to win its independence and its rightful place in the European family ; a people which has overcome the many hardships of an economic crisis with its head held high, and which, in its unshakeable trust in the European Union and its unwavering commitment to a Europe of solidarity, is an example to us all.

Thank you for your attention and I wish you a memorable celebration here at the European Parliament.