BNS: President sees lack of civil society as greatest loss incurred by independent state of Lithuania
Updated 2009-04-21
VILNIUS, Apr 21, BNS - Lithuania's failure to develop a civil society is the country's greatest loss, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus said on Tuesday amid delivering his final state of the nation address in the Seimas. The country's politicians are the ones to bear responsibility for this, said the outgoing Head of State.
Every citizen, said Adamkus, has to ask themselves just how conscientious they have been in their contributions to the welfare of their homeland.
Adamkus found Lithuania's failure to cultivate an open civil society, one based on social partnership, to be the country's greatest loss, noting that politicians are the ones to blame for the situation at hand.
Outgoing president Valdas Adamkus on Tuesday is delivering his final state of the nation address in the Seimas.
The president's annual address covers, as laid down in the Constitution, the state of the nation and foreign and domestic policy of the Republic of Lithuania and future goals to improve the life of the state.
Adamkus' second five-year tenure is expiring in July. Adamkus was elected for his first term as the Lithuanian Head of State in Dec of 1997, serving as president from Feb 26 of 1998 until Feb 25 of 2003.
The first round of Lithuania's presidential elections is scheduled for May 17, with the second round, if one is necessary, to take place together with the elections for European Parliament on June 7.
