Meeting of international students and journalists with a representative of the European Parliament

On October 24, 2019, at the 74th anniversary of the United Nations the Head of the Regulatory Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Member of the Lithuanian Parliament, diplomat Egidius Vareikis visited the students of the specialties "International Relations" and "Journalism" of the Faculty for Humanities and Pedagogics of the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine.

During the meeting a friendly, positive atmosphere prevailed. The guest joked a lot, and at the same time emphasized the important components of modern geopolitics, saying, "I am not a doctor of political science, I am a doctor of biochemistry, but the main theme of our meeting will be to talk about war, because peace comes after the war!".

The topic of the meeting is “Future Studies of the 21st Century”. A number of interesting questions were raised during Egidius Vareikis’s speech: “What does the word “history” mean?”, “How to write the scenario of the future?”, “What will happen after the European Union?”, “What can we, as citizens of modern Ukraine, do for its prosperous future? ” The main objective of the United Nations' activities was delivered to the audience - to support international peace, cooperation, economic, social and humanitarian issues on a planetary scale.

Egidius Vareikis’s speech was filled with positive efforts on the strategy of development of modern Ukraine. He asked the audience, “How will you, Ukrainians, create a happy Ukraine? For everyone understanding of happiness is something very personal. I advise you to read "The lives of holy men" - they are happy because they are poor. We write country development strategies - we are happy, and NATO is protecting us. Asking the Lithuanians what is needed for happiness, they will answer that the happy place to live is the Scandinavian countries, rich countries. From his point of view, the happiness of the nation depends on the strategic document of the state. Make Ukraine happy in 20 Years! Write a strategy for Ukraine - a short, understandable document!”.

Mr Vareikis spoke, among other things, about the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the restoration of state independence in February 2018 in Lithuania. While communicating with the guests, it became clear that Lithuania and Italy do not differ from each other, and Lithuania, like Belgium, is a Western model! It is a pleasure to watch how much a Member of the European Parliament is proud of his country.

Among the interesting points in his report there was a notion that we cannot always write what is real, we write what is politically correct. Egidius Vareikis emphasized, "You have to show the world that Ukraine is not on the edge - Ukraine is not the outskirts!"

Finally, young people asked the speaker his opinion on a number of problems - his attitude to the issue of happiness and the place of modern technologies in this regard; regulation of international relations with Russia; evaluation of the Steinmeier formula and the like. The answers were predictably interesting and extraordinary.

P.S. Everyone should ask himself the question "What is the formula of happiness for Ukraine?"

Karina Korol, Tetiana Yancha, Yulia Mykytenko,
1st year students of the specialty "Journalism"
Julia Sekunova,
Associate Professor of the Department of International Relations and Social Sciences,
Faculty for Humanities and Pedagogics