The politics of discrimination against ‘Kurier Wileński’ still present

Despite the change of the government in Lithuania, the politics of discrimination directed at ‘Kurier Wileński’ (‘Courier of Vilnius’) is still present.

The Fund for Support of the Press, Radio and Television that distributes money from the state budget, for the next year in a row refused to give financial support to the only Polish-language daily newspaper published in Lithuania. We must assess such activity of the institution having access to taxpayers’ money, including the Poles’ – Lithuania citizens, as deliberate politics of discrimination by Lithuania against the mass media of national minorities.

Such politics of Lithuania against national minorities has nothing in common with European standards, of which Lithuanian politicians talk a lot.

The European norm is that the country supports national minorities dwelling within its territory, including press published in the languages of those minorities which is a significant tool in preserving the identity of a minority. For instance, the Czech Republic which, similarly to Lithuania, does not belong to the richest countries of the European Union, allots 400 thousand euro for the daily newspaper of Polish minority ‘Głos Ludu’ (‘The Voice of People’) every year. Moreover, the government of Lithuania knows perfectly well that Lithuanian magazine ‘Aušra’ published in Sejny is financed by the Polish government. Consequently, the editorial staff of ‘Kurier Wileński’ will demand the European standards in terms of support for the mass media of national minorities to be obeyed in Lithuania as well.

The editorial staff

Source: http://kurierwilenski.lt/2013/02/04/trwa-polityka-dyskryminacji-kuriera-wilenskiego/

Tłumaczenie Barbara Rożek w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Barbara Rożek the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.