Press release | “Putin will not give us time”, says former president of Lithuania in Friends of Europe’s summit

21 June 2023, Brussels – Dalia Grybauskaitė, former president of Lithuania, former European commissioner for financial programming and budget, and Trustee of Friends of Europe, urged NATO and EU countries to switch into a “war mentality” yesterday at Friends of Europe’s Peace, Security & Defence Summit.

When asked about Ukraine’s membership to NATO, Dalia stated: “We have an enemy who knows and sees our hesitations. He knows how we feel and what we intend to do, and if he sees hesitation, he will attack and use this against us. (…) Putin will not give us time for the long term: reforms, investments, discussions. If we do not make (…) these security decisions ourselves, he will make us make these decisions faster. (…) We do not have time for such kinds of discussions. Ukraine already earned its membership on the battleground; they are protecting all Europe from this aggressor, every day, with their blood and suffering. And we are still discussing.”

Similarly, Kyllike Sillaste-Elling, Undersecretary for Political Affairs at the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, called for coordinated action: “When looking more widely at the European security, reconfiguration is inevitable: we are seeing a lot of signs of the situation changing. There cannot be any business as usual. (…) The EU and NATO need to be the cornerstone of our security. (…) Both organisations need to work together on making sure that we put an end to grey zones in Europe. (…) Grey zones are a ‘green light’ to Putin, (…) any kind of grey zone is an invitation for instability and aggression.”

On the need for further and faster action, James Appathurai, Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), said: “You have windows of opportunity, and then they close. (…) The Chinese and Russian narratives are extremely successful. (…) So, there is a lot for us to combat, a lot is changing and we need to be more active.”

Hosted simultaneously in two European capitals – Brussels and Vilnius – this year’s annual summit drew attention to the increasing security challenges and threats faced by NATO’s eastern flank from Russia ahead of the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius in July. It also covered best practices to counter disinformation across Europe and launched Friends of Europe’s new study: “After the war: how to keep Europe safe”.

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The Peace, Security & Defence programme aims to make sense of the prevailing security challenges facing European and global security while evaluating Europe’s role in the world. Learn more here.

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