What Rasa spoke about.

15

Feb

2023

EN Speech

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One year of Russia’s invasion and war of aggression against Ukraine (debate)

Madam President. Thank you, Ukraine. Thank you for defending peace. What would Europe be like if Putin had taken over Ukraine in three days, as he planned? Yes, it was a horrible year. However, it would be much worse if the infection of Putinisation took over a large part of the European continent. Today, Ukraine is winning this war. But it depends on us, how fast the decisive Ukrainian victory wi…

2

Feb

2023

EN Speech

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Preparation of the EU-Ukraine Summit (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, Russia must be defeated and expelled from Ukrainian soil – not some day, but this year. This requires hundreds of tanks, fighter jets and long—range missiles, now. Ukraine must be invited to EU membership negotiations – not some day, but this year. Our goal is to grant EU membership to Ukraine before the end of this decade. Bold and swift EU decisions on Ukraine’s…

17

Jan

2023

EN Speech

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The establishment of a tribunal on the crime of aggression against Ukraine (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, this morning the Swedish prime minister said, ‘Ukrainian victory is existential for Europe and, honestly, existential for the whole world’. I more than agree. The European Parliament will adopt the right and necessary resolution on a special tribunal for Kremlin crimes of aggression. But will there be enough courageous heads of state who will establish such a trib…

13

Dec

2022

EN Speech

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Annual implementing report on the EU association agreement with Georgia (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, Georgia belongs in Europe. It was torn away from Europe by force by Soviet Russia. Today, 20% of its territory is still under Russian occupation. The remaining bloodstained dividing lines in Europe imposed by Stalin and Hitler must be erased. Georgia’s membership of the EU is the best way to achieve it. I am convinced that Georgia will be a member of the European …

23

Nov

2022

EN Speech

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The continuing repression of the democratic opposition and civil society in Belarus

Mr President, colleagues, there is the war criminal and usurper Lukashenko, and there are the people of Belarus on the other side. Thousands of them are imprisoned; most of them are silenced in captivity, but it will not always be like this. Belarus will be free because Ukraine will win. That is why the Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment is fighting on the Ukrainian front against Russia, and that is why P…

19

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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Lukashenka regime's active role in the war against Ukraine (debate)

Madam President, two war criminals – Lukashenko and Putin – are holding the Belarusian nation captive and terrorised. Lukashenko is responsible not only for stealing the elections, but also for giving Belarus sovereignty away to Russia. Lukashenko and the Iranian regime are helping Russia in its war of aggression against Ukraine. They are responsible for the war crimes. They must be sanctioned and…

18

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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Recognising the Russian Federation as a state sponsor of terrorism (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, we just heard Putin’s words. Now we have to be back to the topic. We have never had a situation like this before. It is clear that a major nuclear power, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, with all its military and administrative power, is committing acts of terror – killing civilians, destroying infrastructure, using systemic violence and intimidation…

5

Oct

2022

EN Speech

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Countering the anti-European and anti-Ukrainian propaganda of Putin’s European cronies (topical debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, for 20 years, corruption have been the biggest export of Putin’s regime. The public friends of Putin we just heard, who speak regularly in this House, his open cronies in Member States, are an important part of Russia’s war today. But there is another side to the Putinisation of Europe: the Kremlin has developed sophisticated methods where the openness of democracy i…

22

Jun

2022

EN Speech

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Preparation of the European Council meeting of 23-24 June 2022, including the meeting with Western Balkan leaders on 23 June - Candidate status of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, today we are writing the history textbook of our generation. More precisely, the Ukrainians are writing the history of the new Europe with their own blood. Thank you, dear Ursula, for your leadership. Granting EU candidate status to Ukraine is so widely supported. However, that will not be enough. It is necessary to help Ukraine win the war and give Ukraine the weapo…

7

Jun

2022

EN Speech

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The EU’s Foreign, Security and Defence Policy after the Russian invasion of Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, I would like to thank my colleagues for this report and their efforts. The future of Europe’s security will depend on the democratic world overcoming the brutal Kremlin regime and Russia becoming a normal, non-aggressive state. This requires, first of all, acknowledging the fundamental mistakes that have been made so that we do not repeat them again. The Western world has not taken s…

19

May

2022

EN Speech

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The fight against impunity for war crimes in Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, dear colleagues, today is Ukrainian Vyshyvanka Day, so that’s why I am happy to wear a vyshyvanka today. In 1945 Nazi Germany was defeated and their atrocities were revealed and condemned during the Nuremberg trials. The Soviet Union, from the war it started as an aggressor, ended it regarded as an ally, rewarded with new territories. An invisible link between Soviet KGB and current …

18

May

2022

EN Speech

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EU Association Agreement with the Republic of Moldova (debate)

Mr President, today, many people around the world want to defeat Putin. The people of Moldova have already won against Putin by voting for Maia Sandu and her team. Putin openly supported the Kremlin candidate and lost. The EU must give clear hope to the Moldovan people, who have voted for the European way and rejected corrupt politicians. Moldova took in refugees from Ukraine and clearly sided wit…

5

May

2022

EN Speech

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The impact of the war against Ukraine on women (debate)

Madam President, dear colleagues, I will just read the stories. Bucha. Mother, father, daughter (nine) and son (five years’ old). The Kadyrovites entered their house. The father’s hands were tied. He was brought to his knees and shot in front of his wife and children. The next day, the boy’s genitals were cut off. He died of bleeding. The mother and daughter were raped for two weeks. Mother, fathe…

9

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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Debate with the Prime Minister of Estonia, Kaja Kallas - The EU's role in a changing world and the security situation of Europe following the Russian aggression and invasion of Ukraine (debate)

Madam President, colleagues, the security situation in Europe today depends on one thing and one thing only: whether we stay strong and united and defeat the 21st century Hitler and Stalin in one, called Putin; whether we defeat him is up to us. Yesterday, a Ukrainian writer, Oksana Zabuzhko, said ‘Ukrainians are not afraid of Russia. The Ukrainians will defend their land’. What about us? Is the E…

8

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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Foreign interference in all democratic processes in the EU (debate)

Mr President, wars end sooner or later, but the truth never ends. This report is an attempt to face the truth, to understand how deeply we are tied up. Putin’s war against Europe has woken us up, and today some of the provisions of this report have already been implemented. We have to understand, that the Kremlin’s machine of lies is not media. It is a weapon of mass brain and mind destruction. Th…

1

Mar

2022

EN Speech

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Russian aggression against Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, Ukraine signed in their blood the EU membership. I myself must apologise to Ukrainians and to all others that I was too weak to convince my friends in the West in time that Putin is a major threat and that the biggest provocation is not NATO or EU membership, but not being invited to join NATO and the EU. But today there are no more Eastern or Western Europeans. There is only our joi…

16

Feb

2022

EN Speech

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EU-Russia relations, European security and Russia’s military threat against Ukraine (debate)

Mr President, I am happy to have European family heads and Members together to express solidarity with the Ukrainian people, who are like us, and want to live like us in the same European family. The EU Founding Fathers have assumed their leadership to unite and try a democratic Western Europe. Now it is the time for us to assume a similar leadership, to unite all democracies in the European conti…

13

Dec

2021

EN Speech

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The 30th anniversary of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and its importance for the future of Russia and Europe (debate)

Mr President, for my generation, the dissolution of the USSR was a great victory to which we contributed. I firmly believed then that the signatories of Belovezh – Russia, Ukraine and Belarus – would become democratic European states. It is harder for them because the Communist regime that destroyed nations and people ruled them for more than 60 years. Imagine 60 years of Nazi rule! What would Eur…

19

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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EU-Taiwan political relations and cooperation (debate)

Mr President, this report is a very special event. The first European Parliament report devoted exclusively to Taiwan. I commend the rapporteurs on that. The example of Taiwan shows that the Chinese nation can live in a democracy. Live very successfully, prosperously, and not aggressively. As the report points out, Taiwan is a healthy democracy and technologically advanced economy. There is a dire…

5

Oct

2021

EN Speech

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State of EU cyber defence capabilities (debate)

Madam President, despite the fact that cyberspace is one of the greatest inventions of humanity, it can become the most dangerous weapon in the hands of evil in the 21st century. Russia and China, the main countries from where the cyber-threats derive, already have well-prepared special cyber-units within their armed forces. Also, they use private structures and are able to act very aggressively. …

5

Oct

2021

LT Speech

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The situation in Belarus after one year of protests and their violent repression (debate)

Mr President, honourable Commissioner, what we have now heard is deplorable. We hear this through the Kremlin's propaganda channels. This is unacceptable as we hear from the European Parliament's rostrum. I have to say that. We do not want to get used to and should not get used to Lukashenka's cruelty. It is not only cruel to the Belarusian people. For him, a person can be like a mine or a bomb us…

14

Sep

2021

EN Speech

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A new EU-China strategy (debate)

Madam President, I will talk about the part of the Chinese nation that is called Taiwan. This country is probably the most important today when we think about China’s future, not to mention Hong Kong, whose democracy-preserving leaders are already in jail. The government of my country has already announced that a Taiwanese Representative Office will be established in Lithuania. Many in the EU supp…

14

Sep

2021

EN Speech

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Direction of EU-Russia political relations (continuation of debate)

Madam President, I want to congratulate Andrius. He worked hard and from his heart, because he sincerely believes that there is a possible future for a different Russia. The Kremlin likes to call many of us ‘Russophobes’, but we are exactly the opposite. Putin is the biggest Russophobe of all. He is afraid of Russians. He is afraid of the upcoming elections. That is why he has already eliminated a…

14

Sep

2021

EN Speech

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Situation in Afghanistan (debate)

Madam President, I was among those who believed that the brutal fanaticism in Afghanistan would recede. But it came back. Perhaps, this is the specific path of this country – long and turbulent. I am also mostly concerned about the Afghan women, many of whom I had a chance to meet. But my message today is about us. We have to learn lessons, but I reject angry forecasts about the ultimate defeat of…