Keynote speech by Commissioner Kubilius at the Anniversary of Magna Charta Universitatum

A special welcome to all of you who will today be signing the Magna Charta Universitatum. A joint commitment to shared values.

And a very special welcome to the two universities from Ukraine.

Alone among the nearly 1000 signatories you are from a country at war, a war for national survival.

You are defending these shared values under the most difficult circumstances we can imagine. Under daily drone and missile attacks. With students, professors and staff defending their country on the frontline. And giving their lives.

So my dear Ukrainian friends: welcome and Slava Ukraini.

I thank the Mykolas Romeris University for organising this event.

And especially for organising it here. In the Aula Parva. The small auditorium of Vilnius university. My Alma Mater Vilnensis.

This is where I studied in my younger years.

My heart was in the humanities. But I went on to study physics.

Let me explain by referring to the Magna Charta Universitatum.

As you know its first principle is: independent research and teaching. Free from any political influence. And the third principle is: free enquiry and debate.

And none of this was possible under Soviet occupation.

My father was a literature professor. And he had a lot of trouble with the regime. And he advised me: don't study literature. You will have a lot of problems. Study sciences instead. There is no ideology in science.

It's worth remembering some of the most famous Soviet dissidents also started out in the sciences: Andrey Sakharov, Alexandr Solhzenytsin, Natan Sharansky.

Even the most oppressive totalitarian dictatorships in the world, could not extinguish science, knowledge. Or truth.

In the end, the open spirit of science always triumphs.

The power of ideas. And the power of unity.

Everything starts with the power of ideas. The 21st century is the century of speed and of big bangs.

First big bang – Artificial Intelligence.

The speed and Big Bang of Artificial Intelligence is changing our world. According to some may even end our world.