24/08/2009 (Agence Europe) - On Sunday 23 August, José Manuel Barroso issued a statement on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the “Baltic Way” human chain. Twenty years ago, this peaceful protest (23 August 1989) brought together more than two million Europeans in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, what at that time were still behind the Iron Curtain. The Baltic Way was one of the longest human chains in history, extending 600 km and across the borders of the three countries. “It expressed the joint determination of the people of the Baltic nations to assert their identity and contribute peacefully to the changes in European history then emerging”, Mr Barroso explains, concluding that Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have enriched Europe with their “culture, history and economic potential”. (L.C./transl.jl)