On March 1, 2026, at the "Citizens' Conference"
organized by Ignas Vėgėlė in Kaunas, at the "Žalgiris" arena
amphitheater, Priest Robertas Grigas expressed his open thoughts on foreign
policy.
Main highlights of the speech:
Praise for Viktor Orban: The priest favorably assessed the
policy pursued by the Hungarian Prime Minister, which he presented as an
example for the defense of national interests.
Relations with Belarus: R. Grigas urged to find ways to
"not quarrel" with neighboring Belarus, arguing for the necessity of
peaceful coexistence.
Context: This statement was made at an event where I. Vėgėlė
announced his intention to create a new political force that seeks to oppose
the current ruling system.
The event attracted about a thousand participants, and
speakers criticized Lithuania's foreign policy and called for
"reestablishing contact with the nation."
It is strange that this event was described in the
contemporary Lithuanian press:
“On Sunday, at the Citizens’ Conference organized by Seimas
member Ignas Vėgėlė in Kaunas, priest Robertas Grigas, a dissident of the
Soviet regime, spoke. Comparing the current situation in Lithuania and Europe
with Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, the clergyman criticized the position
towards China and Belarus, stated that the European Union had restricted
Lithuania’s sovereignty, and cited Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, French
politician Marine LePen, and other far-right parties as examples.
He began with ironic verses
The priest, who took the stage on Sunday, began his speech
by mentioning that he was continuing “the tradition of many Lithuanian
clergymen before him” and took a few turns.
In a prologue, he recited verses about the Lithuanian,
strangled by taxes, as the stribes and the Soviets did, and about the KGB
reservist servants who rule Lithuania. In the verses, R. Grigas lamented that
there is a lack of money for “nurses, schools, police”, but “there is always
money for tanks and parades”.
These verses were accompanied by applause from the audience.
“I understand that people have gathered here who are
primarily concerned not with the sustainability of the European Union, not with
saving the climate, not with the democratisation of Belarus or China, but with
Lithuania: the state of Lithuania, the Lithuanian people, our survival – as a
nation and as a state”, – the clergyman addressed the audience.
He called the EU a renunciation of sovereignty
R. Grigas considered that Lithuania was independent and
truly democratic from 1990 to 2004, that is, the time when it joined the
European Union.
“And then, unfortunately, from that 2004 until now, all
kinds of restrictions on sovereignty have begun”, – he said.
The priest reminded that the referendum on joining the EU
lasted several days and various rewards were offered for participation in it.
Thus, he raised doubts about whether the process was truly legally justified.
“Well, but it happened, although it was already said at the
time that we were giving up part of our sovereignty by doing so. And there was
a certain fear inside about what it meant. Are we so easily giving up what we
had fought for so many decades, both bloody and peaceful?” – commented R.
Grigas.
True, he considered that the EU itself was still a different
structure at that time, “not completely left-wing ideologically oriented”, and
regretted that currently most decisions are made no longer in Vilnius, but in
Brussels.
"Perhaps this is not the greatest evil, but the issues
of limiting sovereignty, withdrawing it and defending it arise. We have
examples of how, even while being in that union, its members, states such as
Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary can remain themselves and defend their
sovereignty. This is also the United States' turn to reality. So, sovereignty
in all matters – domestic and foreign, war and peace, family and culture –
unfortunately becomes very doubtful in our situation," he said.
He questioned democracy, criticized involvement in the war
in Ukraine
R. Grigas raised the question of whether the system
operating in Lithuania, which allows for the election to national and
international institutions of, as he stated, "persons who are, at best,
indifferent to the sovereignty of the state," is still democratic.
“Is this really the democratically expressed will of the
citizens of the Republic of Lithuania? The conflict with Belarus with great
damage to Lithuania in many areas, the conflict, completely unnecessary, on an
equal footing, with China, the militaristic zombification of society and the
increasing involvement in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia on one side,
the regrettable leftist experiments with the concepts of family and gender, the
complete subjugation of culture and the media to a one-sided, essentially
one-party ideology – is all this the will of the majority of our citizens?” –
asked the clergyman.
The priest stated that Lithuania had once again found itself
on the threshold of “ideological authoritarianism, totalitarianism” familiar to
his generation. He argued that although formally a multi-party system operates
in Lithuania, the country had come closer to the “state of one party, one
truth, one leader”, thus, most likely, hinting at the slogan of Nazi Germany.
He stated that any opposition is considered an act against
the state, politics is dominated by the same elite, which has grown up with the
media, law enforcement and business, which deprives the nation of the
opportunity to influence the government.
According to R. Grigos, this formation is so old that it is
no longer possible to select what is still usable - it remains to lift it all
up and throw it away. He vividly compared the situation with a scene from his
memoirs - bricks that have melted into one formation at too high a temperature.
The hall accompanied this comparison with applause.
The priest argued that when the correction of the government
and the emergence of alternative forces become impossible, it means that there
is no democracy either.
“This is our state now, unfortunately, but we are still
trying very hard to democratize Belarus and Georgia,” he commented.
He cited the AfD as an example, calling for the withdrawal
of the media
Speaking about what can be done, he called for
"withdrawing, demanding the public broadcaster and other means of public
information from the unannounced totalitarian ideological censorship" so
that there could be an equal struggle between different opinions, assessments
and political proposals.
According to the priest, by withdrawing the media, there would
be opportunities to end the mass brainwashing and enable society to make
political and electoral decisions based on objective information.
Since, according to him, this process is moving slowly so
far, it would be appropriate to support small independent online media
broadcasters. The priest did not name them specifically.
He also called for supporting and strengthening the
currently small national and Christian parties and movements, and becoming
their members. As examples worth emulating, the priest mentioned the far-right
European parties, often criticized for restricting the rights of dissenters,
who are blocking support for Ukraine.
“If in France Le Pen’s National Rally can achieve
increasingly impressive results, if the German AfD can essentially win a
majority with realistic decisions that meet the interests of citizens, if in
Poland there could be a Christian and conservative government, realistic
Kaczynski’s “Law and Justice”, and in Hungary Orban’s “Fidesz” – if they can,
why can’t we?” – asked R. Grigas.
He said that in Lithuania, similar political forces are
prevented from coming to power by institutions that have grown up among
themselves.
“But if they, our neighbors, our European brothers, can, why
can’t we? God help us,” – the priest concluded his speech.
The event at the Zalgiris Arena Amphitheater on Sunday was
also attended by communications expert Dalia Kutraitė, I. Vėgėlė himself, and
other people. They spoke about the need to unite and create an alternative to a
dysfunctional democracy.”
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