"Presidential candidate Eduardas Vaitkus presented his
foreign and national security policy vision at the Center for Eastern European
Studies (RESC) on Friday. E. Vaitkus, a candidate who ran independently in the
presidential elections, spoke not only about why he is participating in the
presidential elections, but also about his attitude towards the EU, NATO ,
Russia and Ukraine.
Why are you participating in the presidential election?
"The problem is that I realize that we, the ordinary
people of Lithuania, have been betrayed and sold a long time ago. And that's
what our local government did. After understanding this, a natural question
arises - what to do. <...> The Lithuanian government adopted the
Constitution, if the government does not comply with it, it becomes illegal. My
main aspiration is that we adhere to the Constitution. It says that the people
of Lithuania are the most important", said E. Vaitkus.
He said that "they stole from us the independence of
Lithuania, the opportunity to be masters in our own country".
E. Vaitkus repeated that his most important thesis is that
only the people of Lithuania should solve the country's issues. This is related
to both economic and security issues.
The candidate calls NATO an aggressive military bloc. As an
example of this, he gave the fact that in 2006 NATO forces were involved in
Afghanistan.
"We can decide to participate in the NATO military
bloc. But what is NATO's task? <...> And why do we need this? Why does
Lithuania need this?" - asked E. Vaitkus on Friday.
He said that if Lithuania wanted to leave NATO, it could do
so. He would also suggest that this issue be resolved through debate and
perhaps a referendum.
E. Vaitkus said that Lithuania would be much safer without
NATO than it is now.
Presidential candidate E. Vaitkus emphasized that security
cannot be divided, security "issues must be solved together".
He said that the West is moving towards nuclear
annihilation, and so is the Lithuanian government.
"We, the West, speak deliberately - the loss of Russian
territory must be and we will fix it. <...> We seek death through the
lips of our Lithuanian traitors in power, we seek death for the rest of the
world. Instead of taking and agreeing.
I am not for the destruction of Lithuania. I am for the fact
that the traitors who are in power, who betrayed the people of Lithuania, who
are leading us to destruction, should be named. And to dare to see where we
are", said E. Vaitkus.
According to him, all other issues are simply secondary.
The presidential candidate also was surprised by the Ukrainian
flag hanging on the RESC. He jokingly asked if this place was already occupied
by Ukraine.
Attitude towards the EU
Independent candidate E. Vaitkus said that Lithuania must
not leave the EU, because it is not in it, according to him, the laws state
that. He said that the first article of the Constitution was chosen by the
whole of Lithuania, and the EU membership referred to in point 150 was chosen
only by the Seimas. So, according to E. Vaitkaus, it is not equal.
"We are not a constituent part of the EU. <...>
The EU has many directions - it has its own bureaucratic instructions,
directives given to all the rest...
It is to that unified EU, which is good as an economic
union, but what does it do? We spit on our own laws. <...> It seems to me
that the directions indicated by the European bureaucrats are inappropriate for
the people of Lithuania", - presidential candidate E. Vaitkus criticized.
He said that after becoming president, he would hold a
public debate on the pros and cons of being in the EU. Later, according to him,
a referendum could be held on EU membership.
"We can and must explain to people in a
human-understandable language so that they make decisions. If the referendum
happens, we have some kind of result.
I'm for it, I voted for it because I naively hoped it would
force our politicians to behave more decently. I am for the EU as a union, an
effective economic force," E. Vaitkus said.
Initiate peace negotiations with Russia
When asked if Russia is an aggressor, E. Vaitkus said that
it is seen differently from different points of view.
"According to one side, Russia is the aggressor. But
why is Russia an aggressor?" he asked.
The candidate for the presidency said that if he won the
presidential elections, he would initiate peace talks between the whole of
Europe and Ukraine with Russia, "I would ask without the Americans",
he said.
"I am for the fact that we sit all over Europe and
agree," said the candidate.
He said that he neither agrees nor disagrees with the fact
that currently joined Ukrainian territories belong to Russia.
E. Vaitkus, when asked if he would go to the Kremlin to meet
the Russian leader after the inauguration, said yes. He would like to go to
Hungary only at the beginning.
"But depending on how, who,
when. To Hungary for experience. But I would gladly go (to the Kremlin, op.
p.), after asking before that, maybe US President Joe Biden wants to convey
some good news. <...>
I would love to go there and we
could discuss something with Russia on an equal footing about what could be
possible to do for security across Europe. And that this madness would be
stopped on the territory of Ukraine", said the presidential candidate E.
Vaitkus."
Really, if all of us in Lithuania who are for peace unite, maybe we could lead Lithuania on the path of Austria. Austria, like Lithuania, was once an empire. Now Austria has enough sense to accept it, to be neutral and to use it for the welfare of the Austrian people. How are we worse than Austria?
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