"It was like a second-world country 20 years ago, and today it's at the heart of the European Union. And one of the reasons why I came was that Lithuania is about to assume the EU Presidency," Bercow said in an interview to BNS.
The well-known British politician last time visited Lithuania in August 1992 as a representative of the Westminster Foundation of Democracy.
Visiting the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University on Wednesday after meeting Lithuanian leaders, Bercow expressed delight over "just how radically transformed beyond recognition for the better your country is after two decades of democratic stewardship."
"We now have here in Lithuania a fully functioning party system, regular democratic elections and a peaceful transfer of power which is priceless in value," he said.
Talking about his last visit to Lithuania, Bercow reminisced about his outing to one of the best restaurants in Vilnius at the time.
"I went for lunch to some former KGB restaurant. There was a massive list of items on the menu. And I saw that there were four items that had an asterisk by them. And I said to the waiter: 'Oh, I see those are the items that are not on the menu today.' And he said to me: 'No, those are the items that are on the menu.' Everything else was not available. And it was dreadful," Bercow said.
"I have noticed that the array of fantastic shopping facilities and enterprises and hotels and restaurants is unrecognizable from two decades ago," the British politician said.
