Vytautas Landsbergis – Honorary Doctor of Iliauni
Mr. Gigi Tevzadze, Rector of Ilia State University, awarded honorary doctorate degree to Vytautas Landsbergis for his valuable contributions to the democratization and liberalizations processes of the post-soviet societies. The decision was made by the academic council of the university.
Vytautas Landsbergis is a Lithuanian conservative politician and Member of the European Parliament. He was the first head of state of Lithuania after its independence declaration from the Soviet Union, and served as the Head of the Lithuanian Parliament Seimas. Professor Landsbergis is an intellectual who has been active in Lithuania's political arena for almost two decades, and is a notable politician who contributed to the demise of the Soviet Union. He has written twenty books on a variety of topics including works politics and music. He is a founding signatory of the Prague Declaration on European Conscience and Communism and a member of the international advisory council of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.
Landsbergis entered into politics in 1988 as a head of Lithuanian pro-independence political movement. In the elections of 1990, he became the Chairman of the Supreme Council of Lithuania.
On 11 March 1990, he headed the Parliamentary session during which the restoration of Lithuanian independence from the Soviet Union was declared. Lithuania became the first sovereignty republic. The Soviet Union attempted to stifle this activity by the economic blockade in 1990, but other Soviet Republics declared their independence from Moscow, as well. According to the temporary Constitution of Lithuania, Landsbergis had constitutional authority over both the Leader of the State and the Speaker of the Parliament. He held this post from March 1990 until the next elections in November 1992.
In 1993, Vytautas Landsbergis founded a new political party. It gained a landslide victory in the 1996 parliamentary elections and Professor Landsbergis served as the Speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament called Seimas from 1996 until 2000.
In 2004, Professor Landsbergis was elected by Lithuanian voters to the European Parliament and had an office in Brussels.
In January 2005, Professor Landsbergis urged a ban on the Soviet and Nazi symbols. He also sent a letter to Mr. Franco Frattini, the European Commissioner of Justice and Internal Affairs, where he suggested the banning of Nazi symbols. The Commissioner became interested in this proposal. The Italian leftists and Russian Parliament strongly protested against the proposal. Nevertheless, Landsbergis' proposal found few supporters among Italian politicians. Alessandra Mussolini, a granddaughter of former Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini argued to implement the proposal of the Members of the European Parliament regarding Communist symbols. The debate came to an end when, in the beginning of February 2005, the European Commission rejected calls for a proposed Europe-wide ban on Nazi symbols to be extended to cover Communist Party symbols as well. But finally, the sides had not made a consensus which symbols must be banned.
Professor Landsbergis is a fierce critic of Russia's intentions to impose any kind of influence on the Baltic States and publicly questions Russia's actions towards the Baltic States on both local and international media, as well as in the European Parliament. He talked about the Russia’s intentions to control Lithuania and the other Baltic States economically and politically through a wide network of former KGB agents and other clandestine activities. Vytautas Landsbergis is one of the most active politicians, who urge Russia to compensate Lithuania and other post-Soviet republics for damage occurred to them during their occupations.