President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė has just made her first State of the Nation Address in the Seimas, to give an overview of the situation of the country and the status of internal and foreign policies of the state, as required under the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania.
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė has just made her first State of the Nation Address in the Seimas, to give an overview of the situation of the country and the status of internal and foreign policies of the state, as required under the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania. The President has chosen not to go sector by sector, but instead to talk about the morality of the state and its citizens, the reasons behind the crisis of fundamental values, and the importance of an individual person, his value and responsibility in strengthening the state and building the future of Lithuania. According to the President, it is not the lack of money that makes people angry, but the lack of justice and solidarity.
“If we honestly seek to effect real changes in the state, we have to treat the individual as the highest value. We have to hold this principle as a guiding light for all - from top officials, rank and file civil servants to ordinary citizens,” the President said.
The President named corruption as one of the vices that degrade human dignity most and urged to impose heavier penalties for corruption crimes and adopt, as soon as possible, anti-corruption legislation that have already been drafted. The President insisted that corrupt civil servants must be dismissed and all unlawfully acquired personal assets must be subject to confiscation. “Only real sanctions and personal intolerance against corruption will eventually wipe it out,” the President said.
The President invited to promote the IT PAYS TO BE HONEST approach: to create conditions to allow small businesses, entrepreneurs and creators to come out of the shadow zone and start working legally with dignity and self-respect.
In the State of the Nation Address, the President also named concrete ways to reform the judiciary and regain citizens' trust in justice.
THE INDIVIDUAL, THE STATE, THE FUTURE - these are the key words that must, according the President, become the guiding light in legislative procedure, in the fight against non-transparent activities of interest groups and against the prevalence of goals of individual institutions over those of the state as a whole.
Interests of the people of Lithuania are, according to the President, the most important task of not only the internal, but also foreign policy of the state.
“The strategic direction is one and unquestionable. It is the representation of the interests of the people of Lithuania and their goals, the assertion of national dignity on the international arena. This must be achieved through active protection of Lithuania's interests in the European Union, by guaranteeing national security by using to the maximum extent the opportunities offered by euro-atlantic cooperation, and through constructive relations with the neighboring countries, based on mutual respect and benefit,” the President said.
Summing up the status of the state, President Dalia Grybauskaitė pointed up the problem of alienation in the society and a painful manifestation of this alienation - emigration, and called on the people to build the future of Lithuania themselves and in a responsible manner.
“I invite us all to relate to the state as ‘our own', to perceive its problems as ‘our own', and to address them resolutely and creatively on our own! I invite each and every citizen of Lithuania to vote with great responsibility, to put forward just and fair demands, and to show personal example! I believe that we will overcome any crisis if we overcome the crisis of trust and responsibility in our hearts.”