33 quotes
Today we do not want the security and stability in Europe to be based on self-reliance and defensive barriers.
Address at the NATO Council (1998)
My country knows from her own experience how powerful and instrumental solidarity can be.
Speech at the United Nations General Assembly (2002)
In the past, heads of state designed the security maps of Europe and of the world as they saw it fit. This practise of the past should never repeat itself.
Address at the NATO Council (1998)
Therefore, we need the ability to engage with each other, and a strategic and value-based approach to our future.
Speech on regional leadership (2017)
I was among those who could take advantage of the possibilities offered by free society, and also share its responsibilities.
Address at the NATO Council (1998)
On the other hand, it would be naive to expect that we’d be capable of implanting that ideal, whereas the Western world has been pushing its way for several centuries.
Although the Iron Curtain has separated Lithuania from the West, the Lithuanian people have retained their commitment to the values of democracy, freedom and the rule of law.
Address at the NATO Council (1998)
After World War II, Lithuanian partisans testified through their tragic fate that the Stalinist Soviet Union did not destroy the dignity and idealism of Lithuania.
Speech at the Celebration of the Ninetieth Anniversary of Lithuanian Independence (2008)
Europe has been set on a clear course, walls of mistrust have been brought down, families have been reunited and wars have been extinguished.
Speech at OSCE (2007)
When seventeen years ago, after the Soviet occupation, my country regained independence and joined the UN, we were told that ‘Never again will Molotovs and Ribbentrops dare to decide the future of other nations.’
Speech at the United Nations General Assembly (2008)
For us, the concept of regional cooperation and good neighborhood policy has been instrumental in resolving many difficult issues.
Speech at OSCE (2007)
Security, based on cooperation, should remain the basic principle of different European organizations and of international relations on the whole.
Speech at the United Nations General Assembly (2008)
European unity is the treasure that deserves all of our care and attention. It is in European unity that the strength, cultural and religious tolerance and the intellectual thought of Europe lies.
Speech at the Warsaw Summit of Council of Europe (2005)
The United Nations cannot be a mere passive observer if and when universal values and international law are under threat. Still, too often we remain observers in the face of mounting security crises.
Speech at the United Nations General Assembly (2008)
One European country is missing at this forum. A country whose citizens subscribe to the values of the Council of Europe but who have been robbed of the opportunity to live by them. A neighbour of Lithuania remains a grey territory on the map of European democracies.
Speech at the Warsaw Summit of Council of Europe (2005)
A lack of determination in Syria has caused the problem of massive migration to Europe, at the same time opening the door for direct Russian intervention and downgrading of the US and the EU.
Speech on regional leadership (2017)
Working together, in harmony and with a shared sense of responsibility, we can come considerably closer to achieving the vision of a ‘Europe whole and free’ that brought us together in the first place.
Speech at OSCE (2007)
It is because the United Nations primarily consists not of the sum total of the votes, but of universal principles, and these principles shall be the guiding light to us for the years to come.
Speech at the United Nations General Assembly (2008)
The Cold War stereotypes still burden us. The Baltic states are often referred to by the militaries as indefensible. And their membership in the Euro-Atlantic structures is therefore viewed as a concern rather than a benefit.
Speech in Jyväskylä to Commemorate the End of the Cold War (1999)
There is an idea that I cherish deeply and I believe we all do. That is the idea of building a ‘Europe whole and free’ and a Europe that is at peace with itself.
Speech at OSCE (2007)