Ms Irena Degutienė, the Lithuania’s Parliament Speaker, participated in the International Conference ‘Europe 70 years after the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact’ held by the European Parliament, and made an opening speech.

She is convinced that the assessment of Stalinist crimes is significant not only for the Baltic States or for Eastern and Central Europe but should become a part of a common European identity.  ‘The assessment of Stalinist crimes is significant not only for the Baltic States or for Eastern and Central Europe. I am convinced that adequate evaluation of the crimes committed by the totalitarian regimes and, most importantly, of their consequences must become part and parcel of the common European identity and the shared value system,’ Ms Degutienė said.

Delfi.lt quoted BNS of Degutienė’s assessment of damages done by the Soviet occupation to Lithuania.  The Soviet occupation and the terror of the Stalin era cost Lithuania one third of its population.  ‘Had it not been for the war and the occupation, Lithuania’s population would be about 5 million instead of 3.4 million it has today, which means that our population would be about the size of Finland’s or Denmark’s population. We take it as a particularly painful fact.’

The Speaker also noted that the assessment of the past should not be left only to historians; ‘The evaluation of the Soviet and Nazi totalitarian regimes is not a mere historical demand. My response to those claiming that the past is a matter for historians is as follows: the past might be a matter for historians but justice is a political principle, therefore the past becomes an issue for political communities and the matter of the common EU interest.’