VILNIUS — Vytautas Landsbergis, the leader of the Sąjūdis movement, which led the country to independence, said Lithuania needs to refocus on its goals in a press conference at the country’s parliament Tuesday afternoon.

On March 11 Lithuania will celebrate 20 years of independence from the Soviet Union. The small Baltic country that shook the U.S.S.R. to its core has advanced by leaps and bounds since independence, both in terms of economic development and political reorientation. President Mikheil Saakashvili of the fellow ex-Soviet republic Georgia has praised [private_supervisor]Lithuania as a good example for of how to reintegrate into the West.

However, Landsbergis warned that country still has large problems to tackle. Lithuania has lost the moral plot, Landsbergis said, in a new world where parents didn’t spend enough time with their children and left them for the promise of riches in the west. Consumerism, corruption, alcoholism and emigration are all large problems plaguing the country, he told journalists at a press conference at the parliament building on Tuesday.

“We haven’t managed to achieve everything [since independence] — we used to speak about the need for the honest life. We have declared war against alcoholism and other things and we have lost some of these fights. For example, against corruption and alcoholism. We have differentiation between generations of young people looking different from those times when we had a great deal of idealism,” Landsbergis said.

Due to his leadership during the drive for independence from the U.S.S.R. Landsbergis is widely considered to be one of the intellectual and moral leaders of Lithuania. Along with 34 artists and intellectuals, the music professor turned political activist founded Sąjūdis and became its leader, supporting Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika policies, coordinating protests against Soviet repression and eventually fomenting the Singing Revolution. He now represents Lithuania in the European Parliament.

When asked about crime and emigration, Landsbergis declared the two issues to be a product of a weak family structure in the country.

“When we hear statistical data that parents spend just seven minutes on each child per day, I think these parents deserve punishment, rather than their children [who commit crimes]. This is not decent behavior, it is a betrayal of our children. Parents are supposed to give time to their children. We can speak about materialistic things and materialistic thinking as well. We have a lot of cases when parents leave their children looking for better earnings abroad,” Landsbergis said.

The past year saw more emigration than any in Lithuanian history, and there are countless examples of parents leaving their children with relatives so they could earn more money in the West. Though this often meant more money for the family, it meant that children were left unsupervised.

The mental iron curtain remains

Landsbergis asserted that part of the country’s failings can be attributed to old attitudes fostered in the Soviet Union, and that now citizens really needed to take charge and responsibility for Lithuania’s destiny instead of scapegoating others.

“On the 11th of March, we took our freedom back — so we didn’t have to listen to any outside comments, so we could live to our own understanding and the legal and moral laws of our country. It is our responsibility to foster moral norms. Before it was easy to blame others, but now we have the responsibility to look at ourselves and our actions and what we are doing to make our country a better place to live in,” he said.

Lithuania will celebrate its independence with a four day weekend starting Thursday. [/private_supervisor] [private_subscription 1 month]Lithuania as a good example for of how to reintegrate into the West.

However, Landsbergis warned that country still has large problems to tackle. Lithuania has lost the moral plot, Landsbergis said, in a new world where parents didn’t spend enough time with their children and left them for the promise of riches in the west. Consumerism, corruption, alcoholism and emigration are all large problems plaguing the country, he told journalists at a press conference at the parliament building on Tuesday.

“We haven’t managed to achieve everything [since independence] — we used to speak about the need for the honest life. We have declared war against alcoholism and other things and we have lost some of these fights. For example, against corruption and alcoholism. We have differentiation between generations of young people looking different from those times when we had a great deal of idealism,” Landsbergis said.

Due to his leadership during the drive for independence from the U.S.S.R. Landsbergis is widely considered to be one of the intellectual and moral leaders of Lithuania. Along with 34 artists and intellectuals, the music professor turned political activist founded Sąjūdis and became its leader, supporting Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika policies, coordinating protests against Soviet repression and eventually fomenting the Singing Revolution. He now represents Lithuania in the European Parliament.

When asked about crime and emigration, Landsbergis declared the two issues to be a product of a weak family structure in the country.

“When we hear statistical data that parents spend just seven minutes on each child per day, I think these parents deserve punishment, rather than their children [who commit crimes]. This is not decent behavior, it is a betrayal of our children. Parents are supposed to give time to their children. We can speak about materialistic things and materialistic thinking as well. We have a lot of cases when parents leave their children looking for better earnings abroad,” Landsbergis said.

The past year saw more emigration than any in Lithuanian history, and there are countless examples of parents leaving their children with relatives so they could earn more money in the West. Though this often meant more money for the family, it meant that children were left unsupervised.

The mental iron curtain remains

Landsbergis asserted that part of the country’s failings can be attributed to old attitudes fostered in the Soviet Union, and that now citizens really needed to take charge and responsibility for Lithuania’s destiny instead of scapegoating others.

“On the 11th of March, we took our freedom back — so we didn’t have to listen to any outside comments, so we could live to our own understanding and the legal and moral laws of our country. It is our responsibility to foster moral norms. Before it was easy to blame others, but now we have the responsibility to look at ourselves and our actions and what we are doing to make our country a better place to live in,” he said.

Lithuania will celebrate its independence with a four day weekend starting Thursday. [/private_subscription 1 month] [private_subscription 4 months]Lithuania as a good example for of how to reintegrate into the West.

However, Landsbergis warned that country still has large problems to tackle. Lithuania has lost the moral plot, Landsbergis said, in a new world where parents didn’t spend enough time with their children and left them for the promise of riches in the west. Consumerism, corruption, alcoholism and emigration are all large problems plaguing the country, he told journalists at a press conference at the parliament building on Tuesday.

“We haven’t managed to achieve everything [since independence] — we used to speak about the need for the honest life. We have declared war against alcoholism and other things and we have lost some of these fights. For example, against corruption and alcoholism. We have differentiation between generations of young people looking different from those times when we had a great deal of idealism,” Landsbergis said.

Due to his leadership during the drive for independence from the U.S.S.R. Landsbergis is widely considered to be one of the intellectual and moral leaders of Lithuania. Along with 34 artists and intellectuals, the music professor turned political activist founded Sąjūdis and became its leader, supporting Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika policies, coordinating protests against Soviet repression and eventually fomenting the Singing Revolution. He now represents Lithuania in the European Parliament.

When asked about crime and emigration, Landsbergis declared the two issues to be a product of a weak family structure in the country.

“When we hear statistical data that parents spend just seven minutes on each child per day, I think these parents deserve punishment, rather than their children [who commit crimes]. This is not decent behavior, it is a betrayal of our children. Parents are supposed to give time to their children. We can speak about materialistic things and materialistic thinking as well. We have a lot of cases when parents leave their children looking for better earnings abroad,” Landsbergis said.

The past year saw more emigration than any in Lithuanian history, and there are countless examples of parents leaving their children with relatives so they could earn more money in the West. Though this often meant more money for the family, it meant that children were left unsupervised.

The mental iron curtain remains

Landsbergis asserted that part of the country’s failings can be attributed to old attitudes fostered in the Soviet Union, and that now citizens really needed to take charge and responsibility for Lithuania’s destiny instead of scapegoating others.

“On the 11th of March, we took our freedom back — so we didn’t have to listen to any outside comments, so we could live to our own understanding and the legal and moral laws of our country. It is our responsibility to foster moral norms. Before it was easy to blame others, but now we have the responsibility to look at ourselves and our actions and what we are doing to make our country a better place to live in,” he said.

Lithuania will celebrate its independence with a four day weekend starting Thursday. [/private_subscription 4 months] [private_subscription 1 year]Lithuania as a good example for of how to reintegrate into the West.

However, Landsbergis warned that country still has large problems to tackle. Lithuania has lost the moral plot, Landsbergis said, in a new world where parents didn’t spend enough time with their children and left them for the promise of riches in the west. Consumerism, corruption, alcoholism and emigration are all large problems plaguing the country, he told journalists at a press conference at the parliament building on Tuesday.

“We haven’t managed to achieve everything [since independence] — we used to speak about the need for the honest life. We have declared war against alcoholism and other things and we have lost some of these fights. For example, against corruption and alcoholism. We have differentiation between generations of young people looking different from those times when we had a great deal of idealism,” Landsbergis said.

Due to his leadership during the drive for independence from the U.S.S.R. Landsbergis is widely considered to be one of the intellectual and moral leaders of Lithuania. Along with 34 artists and intellectuals, the music professor turned political activist founded Sąjūdis and became its leader, supporting Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika policies, coordinating protests against Soviet repression and eventually fomenting the Singing Revolution. He now represents Lithuania in the European Parliament.

When asked about crime and emigration, Landsbergis declared the two issues to be a product of a weak family structure in the country.

“When we hear statistical data that parents spend just seven minutes on each child per day, I think these parents deserve punishment, rather than their children [who commit crimes]. This is not decent behavior, it is a betrayal of our children. Parents are supposed to give time to their children. We can speak about materialistic things and materialistic thinking as well. We have a lot of cases when parents leave their children looking for better earnings abroad,” Landsbergis said.

The past year saw more emigration than any in Lithuanian history, and there are countless examples of parents leaving their children with relatives so they could earn more money in the West. Though this often meant more money for the family, it meant that children were left unsupervised.

The mental iron curtain remains

Landsbergis asserted that part of the country’s failings can be attributed to old attitudes fostered in the Soviet Union, and that now citizens really needed to take charge and responsibility for Lithuania’s destiny instead of scapegoating others.

“On the 11th of March, we took our freedom back — so we didn’t have to listen to any outside comments, so we could live to our own understanding and the legal and moral laws of our country. It is our responsibility to foster moral norms. Before it was easy to blame others, but now we have the responsibility to look at ourselves and our actions and what we are doing to make our country a better place to live in,” he said.

Lithuania will celebrate its independence with a four day weekend starting Thursday. [/private_subscription 1 year]

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