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Ladies and Gentlemen,

Rediscovering and strengthening the national identity has been one of the top issues in many post-communist countries in Europe. The experience of Lithuania and other European nations of similar fate shows that national identity is a pivotal factor in order to survive decades of totalitarian rule and national annihilation.

I do believe that most of us clearly remember Baltic political activism era in late 80’s. The Baltic Way and other phenomenal activities of National Revival Movements of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia amazed many countries of the world and set a perfect example for other European nations that strived for independence. Now I am proud to say we succeeded. There is no doubt that the very important factor for our success and the main driving force for that particular unity and persistent behaviour of Baltic nations was strong and unconditional feeling of who we are and what future path we choose. It has obviously helped to restore our statehood and enabled us to join the new and democratic community of European nations.

Speaking about the role that national identity plays in the process of democratization and state building of post-communist countries, I presume that national consolidation and nation building processes must go ahead of political consolidation and formal rule-making processes. As nation building goes first, it directs, strengthens and frames state building. It makes the road to effective statehood more consistent, secure and straightforward for each state. Moreover, people’s support for the idea of a nation-state creates a framework for development of strong civil society that ensures positive socio-political change; it also consolidates and anchors that change in societies that undergo the transformation process. This particularly applies to Eastern European countries which still experience a social indifference, serious disturbances in political consolidation process, lack a necessary tie between elite and mass, and thus cannot overcome the deep problems of state efficiency. Therefore, democratic governance of these countries has become disturbed and even not possible. In other words, the rise of national consciousness is unavoidable step in the development not only of an independent country, but also of democratic rule.

Since we are talking about a relation between national identity and democratization in post-communist space, another crucial aspect should be considered in this context, namely - the way post-communist transformation affects national identity, the way it interferes and disturbs nation-building process and undermines state or nation’s ability to function in self-sustaining, autonomous and democratic mode.

The legacy of communist rule has certainly played an extensive role in every post-communist country. Lithuania has not been an exception. The very ideology of communism and socialism was oriented to obliteration of national identities by creating a new one without any national features. As a result of this, some countries – Poland, three Baltic States, Slovakia, Czech Republic and some others – successfully mustered up their national and political strength and stepped to independent and democratic governance, whereas some others, located in Eastern Europe, appeared less successful - the communist legacy has almost overridden they national substance that might have given them a push to search for a more perspective, satisfying and democratic governance scenario.

As a consequence, our Eastern neighbours are still searching for their identity and at the same time meeting big challenges in various dimensions of state building process.

On one hand, the lack of strong and consolidated national identity suggest the lack of stimulus for positive change in post-communist societies. On the other hand, the stage in which the national identity is formed is that very stage of post-communist transformation that provides an opportunity and role for the international democratic community (the West).  So, in case of most post-communist countries rediscovering their national identity also means rediscovering European identity, which is a strong motive to embrace democratic values. Lithuania in its development cooperation activities in Eastern European neighbourhood seeks to help these nations to identify themselves with European social-political and cultural space, built on democratic traditions.