Latvian presidents receives honorary doctorate from Lithuania's MRU

VILNIUS - Latvian President Egils Levits was on Thursday awarded an honorary doctorate, Doctor Honoris Causa diploma in Latin, and a special keepsake medal from Lithuania's Mykolas Romeris University during a solemn ceremony in Vilnius.

The Latvian president was outfitted in a velour academic cape with a cap and white shawl during the ceremony.

"The achievements of exceptional personalities, their loyalty to the values of the rule of law and democracy, are a great example for our students to follow. The activities and values of Honorary Doctor E. Levit are especially close to Mykolas Romeris University, which was established in a free Lithuania," MRU Rector Prof. Dr. Inga Zaleniene said during the ceremony, presenting the Latvian leader with a unique MRU publication, the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania translated into 13 languages, including Latvian.

MRU‘s Senate decided to award the Doctor Honoris Causa title to the Latvian president for his significant contribution to the democratic processes in the Baltic region, the promotion of the rule of law, the protection of human rights and the ideas of European integration, the European standards for the protection of human rights and the jurisprudential law of the European Union as well as for his outstanding scientific research in the fields of constitutionalism, administrative law, legal reforms and European Union law, the university said in its statement.