On Monday in Oslo, the Belgian politician mentioned the manifestation 23 years ago as one of the moments which, in his words, "healed" Europe.
"I can see many other stirring images before me. Leaders of six States assembled to open a new future, in Rome, citta eterna. Willy Brandt kneeling down in Warsaw. The dockers of Gdansk, at the gates of their shipyard. Mitterrand and Kohl hand in hand. Two million people linking Tallinn to Riga to Vilnius in a human chain, in 1989. These moments healed Europe," Van Rompuy said.
On 23 August 1989, the Baltic Way event was organized by Baltic pro-independence movements: Rahvarinne of Estonia, the Popular Front of Latvia, and Sąjudis of Lithuania. Around 2 million people, a half of them Lithuanians, took part.
Van Rompuy and the leaders of the European Commission and the European Parliament accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Monday. The Nobel Committee awarded the Prize to the EU for making "a continent of war (become) a continent of peace."
The ceremony was also attended by Lithuanian President Dalia Grybausakitė.
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| BFL/Kęstučio Vanago nuotr./Baltijos kelyje - baikeriai |
