ECR 1st Vice-President Władysław Ortyl spoke at an event held in Šakiai and hosted by ECR MEP Aurelijus Veryga. The Podkarpackie President delivered a keynote speech on "System for supporting innovation, investors, and entrepreneurship: The example of the Podkarpackie region, using European funds" and later at the roundtable “Lithuania – a country of more than one city. How can we achieve this?”, which saw, among others, the Mayor of Klaipėda District Municipality Bronius Markauskas as discussant. The event addressed the role of local and regional authorities in shaping cohesion policy and defending the right to remain.

"The demographic crisis in our regions should be fully recognised, both in the EU and the Member States", said Mr Ortyl who stressed how "more should be done to support regions to make the 'freedom to stay' possible, to halt the shrinking population and to mitigate the effects of brain drain". An aspect that is particularly important in regions at the EU's Eastern border, as is the case for Lithuanian and Polish regions, often subject of security threats. 

"I am pleased to underline how European Commission Executive Vice-President Raffaele Fitto has promoted the cause of Eastern border regions. Their importance, investing in their growth and competitiveness is essential for Europe's collective security. It is therefore paramount that investments in these regions are boosted so that their populations have means and reasons to stay", added Mr Ortyl, who also recognised how competitiveness and resilience should be built from bottom up, from regions and cities. 

Sharing the case of his own region of Podkarpackie, Mr Ortyl highlighted how investments in dual-use technology, security infrastructures and cybersecurity have made the region at the EU's Eastern border more resilient and competitive.