President Dalia Grybauskaitė, members of the Government and the Parliament, foreign ambassadors and defense attachés, youth and pupils’ organizations as well as city residents and guests will attend the celebration.
The commemoration will start with a solemn ceremony of hoisting Lithuanian and EU flags. During the official ceremony at the square, President Dalia Grybauskaitė, Speaker of the Parliament Viktoras Pranckietis and Foreign Affairs Minister Linas Linkevičius will congratulate all the people of Lithuania.
At the end of the official ceremony, a festive concert will be held at the square next to the Presidential Palace, which will be opened by Lithuanian representative at this year’s Eurovision song contest Yury Veklenko. This is where his official ceremony of seeing off for the song contest held in Israel on May 14th will also be held. The concert will then be followed by the performance of the band Antikvariniai Kašpirovskio dantys. The event will be broadcast live on the national television LRT.
Festive events will not end with the concert in Daukantas square. The celebration will continue in the Lukiškių square with an open-air cinema, unconventional outdoor activities and activities for children as well as other fun activities for residents and guests of Vilnius.
Lithuania became a fully-fledged member of the European Union in 2004. The EU currently has 28 member states and was established after the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. Estonia, Latvia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Poland, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Hungary also joined the Union together with Lithuania in 2004.
For many years, Lithuania has been at the forefront by the number of people who trusted the EU. Almost two-thirds of respondents trust the EU. Lithuania is also among the most pro-European countries on the continent. Even 71 percent of the respondents have an optimistic approach to the future of the EU.
