Kwasniewski says Lithuania was fortunate to have Adamkus

Lithuania was fortunate to have Valdas Adamkus as president, former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said at a conference on Adamkus’s legacy, LRT reported.

The conference took place on Monday at Vilnius Town Hall, organised by Vilnius University and the Vilnius municipality. It examined the political and social legacy of Adamkus, who is turning 100, and his role in strengthening Lithuania’s international relations and position in Europe. Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko also shared his memories of Adamkus.

Yushchenko recalled Adamkus’s visits to Ukraine and Georgia during his second term as Lithuania’s president. He said Adamkus had shown that he would not remain indifferent to injustice. “We do not need mediators between evil and the victim; we need an ally,” Yushchenko said.

Political scientist Margarita Šešelgytė, who moderated a discussion, described Adamkus as one of the architects of Lithuania’s values-based foreign policy. After Lithuania joined the European Union and NATO, it worked with Poland to help resolve the crisis in Ukraine during the Orange Revolution, with Adamkus personally involved. He also mediated between Poland and Germany during their disagreement over the Lisbon Treaty.

“He always said that democracy is very important, and democracy beyond Lithuania’s borders is also a guarantee of Lithuania’s security,” Šešelgytė said.

Yushchenko said Adamkus’s support for Ukraine’s independence from Russia was still valued there. He recalled that the first meeting between Ukraine’s government and opposition took place in Poland, not Kyiv, and that the talks eventually led to the election results being recounted.

Yushchenko also recalled Russia’s 2008 invasion of Georgia and its occupation of part of the country. A NATO summit that discussed membership for Ukraine and Georgia had ended in failure, he said. “Putinisation was widespread across Europe. Vladimir Putin was seen as the best figure by everyone from Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy to Silvio Berlusconi. These are the foundations of the war we are fighting now,” Yushchenko said. He added that Adamkus and Polish President Lech Kaczyński had responded clearly and responsibly during those difficult times.

Kwasniewski said he and Adamkus shared the goal of using the historic opportunity that arose after the Iron Curtain fell to secure NATO and EU membership for Poland and Lithuania. He described Adamkus as someone who brought together different experiences: growing up in independent Lithuania, living through its occupation and Sovietisation, and experiencing life in the diaspora before returning to a Lithuania that had restored its independence and could pursue its ambitions.

Kwasniewski said politics had changed since their presidencies. Central European societies no longer shared the consensus around European integration that existed then, he said, with radicalisation replacing efforts to find agreement. He also cited changes in relations among major powers, Donald Trump’s election victory in the United States and the influence of social media on politics. “It is time to admit that times are worse now,” he said.

Šešelgytė said presidential diplomacy was an instrument of international politics, allowing leaders to make important decisions at the highest level.