What Vilija spoke about.

11 Feb

2025

LT Speech

Boosting vocational education and training in times of labour market transitions (debate)

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Madam President, strengthening the competitiveness of the European Union goes hand in hand with sustainable social employment and education policies. Workers with skills that match the needs of the labour market and high-quality, well-paid jobs are the backbone of a strong and competitive economy. Labour market needs in the digital and green transition economy are changing fast, and we must preser…

22 Jan

2025

LT Speech

Addressing EU demographic challenges: towards the implementation of the 2023 Demography Toolbox (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, what is really needed to answer the questions raised by our people, how to increase the birth rate, how to deal with ageing, how to ensure that there is no shortage of workers? The answers seem to be very simple: stable and decent work, fair and sufficient wages to support the family, accessible and quality housing and accessible childcare and health services. Unfortuna…

22 Jan

2025

LT Speech

Uniting Europe against actors hostile to the EU: time to strengthen our security and defence (topical debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, investment in security and defence, in significant capacity building for the defence industry, and investment in our European Union as a whole, in our people. There is therefore an urgent need to increase investment in defence and in our military capabilities, both by the Member States and by the European Union as a whole. And here we must be more united tha…

27 Nov

2024

LT Speech

Rise of energy prices and fighting energy poverty (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, thank you for your work. I wish you the best of luck. Well, in fact, millions of Europeans cannot afford to heat their homes or pay their energy bills. The surge in energy prices since the beginning of the war in Ukraine has affected everyone, but especially our most vulnerable people. Energy poverty is indeed a multifaceted problem and an integral part of overall pover…

27 Nov

2024

LT Speech

Critical infrastructure vulnerabilities and hybrid threats in the Baltic Sea (debate)

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Dear President, Commissioner, colleagues. It is clear that the war in Ukraine is no longer limited to the territory of Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, hybrid attacks have also started in the Baltic region. And the last attack that damaged two submarine cables between Germany and Finland and Lithuania and Sweden is certainly not a coincidence. This is a very well-planned act of sabotage an…

26 Nov

2024

LT Speech

Reinforcing EU’s unwavering support to Ukraine against Russia’s war of aggression and the increasing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia (debate)

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17 Sep

2024

LT Speech

Continued financial and military support to Ukraine by EU Member States (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, Europe's security depends on us being able to help Ukraine preserve its freedom and sovereignty. Soon there will be three years of fierce war, and it seems that Putin is not going to retreat. That is why we must show solidarity with Ukraine and its people. My country, Lithuania, knows better than anyone the price of freedom and the real face of Putin's Russi…

12 Mar

2024

LT Speech

Council decision inviting Member States to ratify the Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190) of the International Labour Organization (debate)

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Mr President, honourable Commissioner, colleagues. Too many people continue to experience different types of violence and harassment at work, and victims of violence often remain unheard of. Women are disproportionately affected by violence at work. Even one in three women in the EU has experienced some form of violence. The highest risk of violence is in the services sector, the healthcare sector…

28 Feb

2024

LT Speech

The murder of Alexei Navalny and the need for EU action in support of political prisoners and oppressed civil society in Russia (debate)

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President, Putin's regime continues to brutally destroy civil society in its country. The assassination of Alexei Navalny at the Munich Security Conference is Putin’s brazen challenge to the West and a full demonstration of impunity. The Kremlin's regime is at war with two wars: one in Ukraine to destroy the right of Ukrainians to freedom and the right to choose the future of their country, and an…

8 Feb

2024

LT Answer

Working conditions of teachers in the EU (debate)

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Thank you for your question. First of all, I would like to say that I am not really familiar with the education system in Poland in particular. However, I can answer that a common education area in the European Union is needed, above all, to eliminate poor quality education in all the countries of the European Union, to have sufficient funding for teachers, to have enough respect for the teaching …

8 Feb

2024

LT Speech

Working conditions of teachers in the EU (debate)

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President, Commissioner. Quality education provided by qualified teachers is inseparable from a socially and economically strong European Union and its future. Unfortunately, however, teacher shortages remain high in almost all Member States, including my own, Lithuania, and this is a long-term problem that will only increase in the future due to insufficient strategic action. We very much lack st…

17 Jan

2024

LT Speech

Addressing urgent skills shortages and finding the right talents to boost job creation (European Year of Skills) (debate)

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President, honourable Commissioner, colleagues, the Year of Skills is designed to highlight the mismatch between labour and demand in the European Union and to find solutions. The issue of skills remains highly relevant and needs to be addressed, as it determines the competitiveness of our European Union as a whole and, at the same time, the social well-being of our people. There is a clear shorta…

17 Jan

2024

LT Speech

Gender aspects of the rising cost of living and the impact of the energy crisis (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, in the European Union, a large proportion of people are on the verge of poverty, not least because of the surge in inflation in recent years and the dramatic increase in the prices of energy and essential consumer goods and services. Families with children, single people, most of whom are women, as well as our pensioners, are often unable to meet even the mo…

4 Oct

2023

LT Speech

Decent Housing for All (topical debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues. The sharp surge in inflation, housing, food and energy prices led to a cost-of-living crisis and reduced real incomes. And it affects not only low-income, but also middle-income people the most. And today, for most of such people, housing has become a great luxury. Over the last decade, rental prices in some Member States, including my home country Lithuania…

9 May

2023

LT Speech

Start of the European Year of skills (debate)

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Thank you, President, Minister, Commissioner. Declaring this year as a year of skills offers many opportunities to focus and focus on the European labour market and its challenges and find the right solutions, helping our people to successfully adapt to changes in the labour market and making businesses more competitive and innovative. Europe's competitiveness depends directly on the success of bu…

19 Apr

2023

LT Speech

Children forcibly deported from Ukraine and the ICC arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin (debate)

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President, Mr Vice-President, colleagues. Today, more than enough evidence has been gathered about the abduction of Ukrainian children and their forced deportation to Russia. Russia is committing genocide against the Ukrainian people, using helpless children. This is a horrible cruelty. This is not justified by any argument, since it is particularly serious war crimes and crimes against humanity, …

14 Mar

2023

LT Speech

This is Europe - Debate with the President of Lithuania, Gitanas Nausėda (debate)

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. – Dear President of Lithuania, Madam President, dear colleagues, European citizens watching our debate, Lithuania, like other countries of the same fate, which were destined to experience the oppression and aggression of Soviet totalitarian Russia better than anyone knows the price of freedom won by blood. Today in this place is Ukraine, which heroically fights for its own and our freedom. It's …

2 Feb

2023

LT Speech

Preparation of the EU-Ukraine Summit (debate)

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President-in-Office, colleagues, there will soon be a year when Ukraine and its people are fighting for the freedom, sovereignty and territorial integrity of their country. Russia's unjustified military aggression has irreversibly altered the geopolitical situation of Europe as a whole. And the whole world saw the true face of the Russian and Kremlin regimes. Therefore, now is the time to come tog…

14 Dec

2022

LT Speech

Tackle the cost of living crisis: increase pay, tax profits, stop speculation (topical debate)

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Thank you, Mr President, Commissioner. Inhumane increases in food and energy prices are simply pushing low- and middle-income people into poverty and social exclusion. However, the necessary decisions are long overdue. I do not understand why some Member States still do not apply a reduced VAT rate even to essential foodstuffs, while the greed of business shareholders is not justified. Finally, it…

13 Dec

2022

LT Speech

A need for a dedicated budget to turn the Child Guarantee into reality - an urgency in times of energy and food crisis (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, child poverty in the European Union, one of the richest regions in the world, is unacceptable and is still growing. The Covid pandemic, the war in Ukraine, has shown that the systems for eradicating child poverty are not as strong as we thought they would work. As a result, it is regrettable and responsible that as many as 18 million children are living in poverty. And …

20 Oct

2022

LT Speech

Cultural solidarity with Ukraine and a joint emergency response mechanism for cultural recovery in Europe (debate)

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Thank you, President, Commissioner, colleagues. The war in Ukraine has become a painful reality. Ukraine and its people are fighting for freedom, for the right to have their own country, to live peacefully in it and to build their future. Ukraine is fighting for our European values, for democracy, for the European way of life, for human rights and freedoms, so it is also our European war, not only…

19 Oct

2022

LT Speech

Preparation of the European Council meeting of 20-21 October 2022 (debate)

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Mr President, the war in Ukraine and the economic and social consequences of this war for Europe and our people remain high on the political agenda of the European Union and will continue for a long time to come. We must support Ukraine and give it every assistance in its defence against the Russian aggression. In the same spirit of solidarity, we must take urgent decisions to stop the widening of…

13 Sep

2022

LT Speech

Adequate minimum wages in the European Union (debate)

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Mr President, Commissioner, colleagues, rapporteurs, first of all, I would like to thank you for the political will you have found to agree on the minimum wage directive, especially at this difficult time. It is, admittedly, abnormal that people in Europe who receive the minimum wage do not survive, cannot meet their basic needs and end up in poverty. Current inflation, energy and food prices will…