Lithuanian Seimas speaker calls to set up dedicated support fund for Ukraine

VILNIUS – Today, the Ukrainians are fighting not just for their future but also for the legacy of the Commonwealth of the Two Nations and it is necessary to step up support provided to the country, Speaker of the Lithuanian Seimas Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen said in Warsaw on Monday.

She proposed to set up a dedicated support fund for Ukraine.

While talking about support and aid for Ukraine, the speaker of the Lithuanian parliament singled out three steps that were the most pressing at present.

“I think, first of all it is important to continue supplying a broad range of weapons in order to help Ukraine defend its freedom, restore territorial integrity and prevent further mass killings of civilians,” she said.

“The second important step would be to grant the official European Union candidate country status to Ukraine as soon as possible and we hope for a positive opinion of the European Commission in this respect. And thirdly, it is important already now to develop the Ukraine Solidarity Trust Fund, which will help rebuild Ukraine after the war and will launch a program of major investment,” Cmilyte-Nielsen added.

In Warsaw, the Lithuanian Seimas speaker also met with Polish President Andrzej Duda, Marshal of the Sejm Elzbieta Witek and Marshal of the Senate Tomasz Grodzki.

She is also scheduled to visit the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews and meet with the Lithuanian community in the Polish capital.

The Commonwealth of the Two Nations was a federal state of Lithuania and Poland from 1569 to 1795. The Constitution of this republic, adopted on May 3, 1791, was the first such written document in Europe.

In Poland, May 3 is an important public holiday, while in Lithuania the date is celebrated more modestly, as the Constitution, in some views, reduced the independence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the common state with Poland.