On Thursday, 16 December, Mrs. Solvita Āboltiņa, Speaker of the Saeima, in addressing MPs at the plenary sitting, expressed her gratitude to the parliament of Iceland for the Parliamentary Resolution on Support for the Baltic States’ Strife for Independence, which was adopted twenty years ago.

“In two days, twenty years will have elapsed since the decision was made. It was one of the first harbingers of freedom which twenty years ago reached us on a cold December day like today,” said Mrs. Āboltiņa. On 18 December 1990, the parliament of Iceland unanimously adopted the Parliamentary Resolution on Support for the Baltic States’ Strife for Independence. This week, the Speaker of the Saeima sent a letter to Mrs. Ásta R. Jóhannesdóttir, Speaker of the Althingi, in which she wholeheartedly expressed gratitude for the much needed support Latvia received at that time.

“To put it figuratively, the Resolution of the parliament of Iceland became yet another solid cobblestone in paving the way for restoring the independence of the Baltic States, including Latvia. As a result of courageous actions by countries friendly to Latvia and of efforts by the inhabitants of the Baltic States themselves, the number of such cobblestones constantly increased, and in 1991 Latvia could embark on the road to a democratic and developed Europe. If at that time there had not been such support and courageous actions by parliamentarians, politicians and diplomats from friendly countries who constantly kept the issue of the independence of the Baltic States on the international community’s agenda, then it probably would have been much harder to achieve our independence,” said the Speaker of the Saeima.

Mrs. Āboltiņa called on members of the Saeima and all the Latvian people during this Christmas and New Year’s season to remember with gratitude the patriots of our fatherland and all those international friends who believed in us and helped us in the most difficult moments. “They have helped us to regain the most precious thing – the free and independent state of Latvia,” said the Speaker of the Saeima.

Saeima Press Service