Belgium's King Philippe sent a strong message of solidarity on Monday to countries east of the EU's borders, on the first day of his State visit to Lithuania, stressing that such a message was more important than ever in the wake of events in Ukraine.
“The Russian aggression against Ukraine has brought us into a new era," he said soon after a meeting in Vilnius between the Belgian delegation and their Lithuanian hosts, "a period that reminds us of the darkest sides of the history of our continent."
"I can only imagine that it also revives painful memories in Lithuania,” the Belgian monarch said. “The message of solidarity of the members of the European Union and NATO, especially towards the Eastern nations, is more important than ever.”
He recalled that the Belgian and Lithuanian armed forces were already working together long before the Ukrainian conflict. “For two decades now, Belgium has been taking part in NATO missions on Lithuanian territory. This long-standing cooperation is now proving its worth,” said the monarch.
King Philippe took the opportunity to express his solidarity with the people of Ukraine “and their legitimate right to defend the integrity of their territory."
“This irresponsible conflict, targeting civilians, has already caused too much suffering,” he stressed.
King Philippe and Queen Mathilde arrived early Monday afternoon in Vilnius for a three-day State visit to Lithuania, accompanied by a high-level delegation including the prime ministers of Belgium's three regions.
They were received at an official ceremony in the presidential palace by a Lithuanian delegation led by President Gitanas Nauseda and his wife Diana Nausediene, and later visited the Antakalnis cemetery in Vilnius, where they placed a wreath at the memorial to the victims of the struggle for Lithuania's independence in the early 1990s.
Day One of the visit was capped by a State dinner at the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, also in Vilnius, with the Belgian royal couple receiving a brief tour of the 13th-century building, which was completely renovated early this century.
During the State dinner, King Philippe took the floor for a short speech in which he referred, among other things, to the economic and cultural ties between Belgium and Lithuania.
There, too, the Russian aggression against Ukraine was never far away.
“Like Belgium, Lithuania always seeks dialogue and not conflict," the King noted. "This does not mean that Europe can and should accept a brutal aggressor simply invading or swallowing up a sovereign country," he said.
"Lithuanian history teaches us that we must guard against that," King Philippe stressed. "Only a united and determined Europe can respond to such aggression.”
