Will EAPL leave the Coalition?

Polish high-school graduates will have some concession this year with the exam of the Lithuanian language. Almost all the requests of the EAPL on this issue on Monday were approved by the political Council of the ruling coalition. EAPL leader Waldemar Tomaszewski said, however, he does not see prospects for cooperation with coalition partners.

At the meeting of the political Council of the party governing EAPL accepted suggestions for words in a smaller number in the essay and to increase the permissible number of errors. Students who will take the state examination of the Lithuanian language will write essay on 400 words (instead of 500-600), taking the school exam -250 words (instead of 400).

The students – not just those from minority schools, but also Lithuanian schools – will not be able to choose from 3 of the 7 identified authors whose works need to be addressed in the essay. EAPL postulated a free choice of any of the 35 projects in authors, but it recognized the coalition partners to require prohibitive.

Students-not just those with minority schools, but also with Lithuanian schools-will be able to choose not from 3 but from 7 authors indicated that work need to be addressed in the essay. EAPL postulated a free choice of any of the 35 projects in authors, coalition partners recognized however as an excessive requirement.

“This is a compromise variant. This year’s secondary school graduates will have a more difficult version of the test than it was before. Incentives are very normal and appropriate” – said after the meeting Rita Tamašunienė a chairwomen of the EAPL fraction in the Parliament of Lithuania.

The agreement reached on the issue of this year’s exam, however, proved insufficient. At a press conference after the Council meeting, Waldemar Tomaszewski confirmed information that the AWPL thinks about leaving the coalition.

“Unfortunately, we are considering to leave the coalition, because we cannot agree on the objectives of the program. I can only say that I do not see job prospects in this coalition,” – said the leader of the EAPL.
According to W. Tomaszewski charges against coalition partners do not apply this time to the issue of national minorities.

“In matters of national minorities on the one hand, we understand that they cannot be resolved very quickly. On the other hand, we see that parents of the secondary school graduates of Polish schools are in a stressful situation. They cannot be victims of the experiment. Today  we were looking for  an agreement on educational and almost reached it.  In this case, let’s say I do not have too many claims. But generally in the coalition, in many ways, we cannot get along. Every week we debate here , then these findings practically do not apply, “said w. Tomaszewski.

Chairman of the Polish party alleged failure to comply with the findings of the coalition partners on a budget, investment projects, as well as positions in the ministries – contrary to earlier findings did not occur in the fourth position of Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Energy. Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius was clearly surprised by W. Tomaszewski  statements.

On Monday, in an interview with the Radio “from the Villa” Waldemar Tomaszewski repeated:

“We doubt whether the coalition can deal with all the cases that we have to deal with, in carrying out its program. The cooperation is quite hard. There is no specific decision is definitive, but very strongly yesterday we accentuated these difficulties, when one of the biggest party-the social democratic party-fails the decision, which is in the ruling coalition. ”
EAPL leader stressed that political decisions of the Council shall enter into force only after the warrant was signed by the Minister of education. “The Minister has signed an order on Wednesday, but will he do it? This we do not know, because he already could have signed it last Thursday, and under the influence of specific pressure he did not. Today the Prime Minister is going to Poland and probably he will say that everything is fine, there are some relief, but whether these reductions will be for sure, we don’t know. I have great doubts as to whether our decisions will be implemented, “considered for radio” from the Villa “Waldemar Tomaszewski.

The Polish President also informed the party that they failed to communicate with collation partners , how long will apply worked out relief. AWPL applied for the term of 12 or 8 years-so much according to the objective of the programme is to branch to the transitional period for high school students. Koalicjanci, however, agreed to introduce relief only in the current year. So, too, presented the minister of education the situation in an interview for Tuesday’s Pavalkis Dainius Lithuanian radio.

Polish President also informed the party has failed to communicate with coalition partners as long as they force to developed a relief. AWPL applied for the term of 12 or 8 years-so much according to the objective of the programme is to branch to the transitional period for high school students. However, coalition acquiesced to introduce incentives in the current year only. Minister of Education Dainius Pavalkis also presented this situation on Tuesday’s interview with Lithuanian Radio.
“She was talking about the fact that we guarantee reliefs this year, then we look at the situation. If it can be seen that minority schools may even take the exam in a more serious form,  for sure we will not specifically preserve the concessional terms, “said d. Pavalkis
“The question was posed in this way, if a minority school drops out of the State language exam and press so that it underwent the exam such as provided by the Education Act. We did some reliefs so it was not a large objection. I believe that the primary goal, is for everybody to take the examination in the Lithuanian language, thanks to a decision compromise it was achieved “- he added Pavalkis.

Source: http://www.wilnoteka.lt/pl/artykul/awpl-opusci-koalicje

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