27/06/2024 | 11:51:28 Dear President, Dear colleagues, We stand today at a pivotal moment in history, where, of course, our solidarity, our compassion, our resolve are being tested by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Today we are called open to envision and implement both immediate and long-term policy solutions to support millions of displaced by the tragic war. Over 5.9 million Ukrainians have sought refuge in Europe and an additional 500 000 have fled to countries outside Europe. Within Ukraine around 5 million... 26/06/2024 | 12:06:53 Dear President, Dear colleagues, More than two years have passed since our mentioning of a full-scale invasion that began, and we continue to witness those devastating impacts of this war. It is imperative that we establish a special tribunal for the crimes of aggression against Ukraine. This tribunal must be international in its scope, ensuring cross regional support, and minimising any legal challenges. Therefore, I fully agree that the most feasible and the most effective way to do this is... 17/04/2024 | 17:11:00 Thank you, dear President, dear colleagues. I want to thank all three rapporteurs for the excellent work done and reports prepared, and especially Evgenia KARA-MURZA for her address to this Assembly. The recent demise of Alexei Navalny has sparked global outrage and renewed the discussions about the state of democracy in Russia and Vladimir Putin's regime. And while Navalny is dead, what I believe to be result of poisoning orchestrated by the Kremlin, once again, serves as a stark reminder of... 16/04/2024 | 19:59:06 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Dear President, dear colleagues, We have been the ones who led the way in expressing our solitary withUkraine and its people, in condemning the Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and in excluding Russia from our members. But we did not stop and continued our work in setting up the Register of Damage Caused by the Aggression of the Russia against Ukraine. The documented damages to Ukraine's infrastructure and economy caused by the... 24/01/2024 | 16:18:21 Thank you, Chair. Dear colleagues, Today I wish to address you not only as a Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe delegate of Lithuania, but also as a chairperson of the Lithuanian Parliament friendship group with OECD and also as a former deputy councillor of government in charge of Lithuania's successful application process to OECD. It is exactly this application process to become a member country of OECD, very similar to, yes, the application process to become members of the... 23/01/2024 | 20:16:55 (Undelivered speech, Rules of Procedure Art. 31.2) Dear colleagues, dear friends, I know very well, that those of us who have visited Israel after Hamas’ terrorist attack, who have witnessed, seen, even smelled the horrific aftermath of indescribable acts between human beings, continue to carry those images every day. We must acknowledge that this is not just another regional conflict or another terrorist attack. It is a challenge to democracies globally. It is a challenge directed at... 13/10/2023 | 10:26:16 Thank you. Dear President, dear colleagues, I invite us to see the facts as they are. Mr Putin has been continuously in power since the year 2000. He has served two consecutive four-year terms between 2008 and will have completed two consecutive six-year terms between 2012 and 2024. Changes made to the Russian Constitution enacted in July 2020 would allow him to remain in office as president until 2036, an overall period of 36 years. Dear colleagues, 36 years. We have often, in this Assembly... 11/10/2023 | 16:22:27 Thank you. Dear president, dear colleagues, it is my first time as an MP here in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. This is my first cadency here and I must say it is a very hard one. It is a cadency filled with horrors of war. War in Europe, now war in the Middle East. Hamas, as an internationally recognised terrorist organisation, launched a massive attack on the citizens of Israel by infiltrating terrorist into communities in the south as well as by launching extensive... 23/06/2023 | 12:32:42 Madam Speaker, Dear Colleagues, Before coming to Strasbourg, I booked my flight and my hotel on a website. On my way here, I was actually checking the news very regularly. During this week, well, actually being physically in France, I did actually engage with the most pressing matters back home in Lithuania. All of that is thanks to ever-present access to the internet and the digital skills which I have acquired. To know that not all of us have the same access to learn, to study, to connect... 20/06/2023 | 16:37:51 Dear Madam Speaker, dear colleagues, The rigged presidential elections of August 2020 have shown the true character of the repressive regime of Mr Aleksandr Lukashenko. Turning Belarus into an open-air prison, its human rights have been reduced to nothing. And it is now more clear than ever that because of the actions of the last dictator of Europe, because of the system he created, thousands of Belarusians had no other option than to leave their country. And mostly to Poland and to the...