Lithuania: EP President collects 2023 Freedom Prize

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola has collected the 2023 Freedom Prize awarded by the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, to the European Parliament, LRT reports. The European Parliament declined to accept a cash prize of EUR 11,000. Radvile Morkunaite-Mikuleniene, deputy speaker of the Seimas, suggested allocating the money to investigators of Russian war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. The Seimas awarded the annual Freedom Prize to the European Parliament for efforts to consolidate democracy and human rights and to defend the right to self-determination and sovereignty.