- June 12, 2013
- 349
President Grybauskaitė’s exposé. Poles (Lithuanian citizens) are evil and menace to state’s stability
Dalia Grybauskaitė has delivered the fourth and next to the last speech in her current term of office. The President tried to present Lithuania as a country of success, a country that has gone safely through the crisis. A country of people who are enterprising, educated, and ready – as the President believes – to face the great threats of the modern world.
The modern threats include energy dependence on Russia, the risk of cyberterrorism, constant attempts of foreign centres to decide for Lithuania, to decide what is good for this state. There are also domestic threats such as bureaucracy, corruption, and the government’s compliance to claims of national minorities.
According to President Grybauskaitė, the Lithuanian language is becoming the bargaining chip in coalition negotiations. The exam in Lithuanian, which is already stirring up controversy, is turning into other demands that lead to a split within the state. Mrs President does not specify what the demands are.
“People should be made aware what the price of this can be,” says Grybauskaitė, magnifying the atmosphere of danger. And all is clear! This is Poles (Lithuanian citizens), although President Grybauskaitė did not wisely mention them, that are an evil and a menace to the state’s stability and strike the essence of Lithuanianness – the language. It is thanks to their free and democratic votes that the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania has entered the Sejmas and the ruling coalition, as well as demanded reasonable rules and dates concerning the standardisation of the exam in the state’s official language.
This is the message of the speech delivered to the nation by the President of a country which has been a member state of the European Union for 10 years and which is to take over the presidency over it next week.
The President of the Republic of Lithuanian is elected in a direct and general election. It appears that, on principle, he/she should be a president of all citizens; act in aid of reconciling often contradictory interests of various social groups and support dialogue. He/she should simultaneously avoid words and actions that lead to divisions.
The basic principles were well understood and respected both by Algirdas Brazauskas and Valdas Adamkus. Unfortunately, President Grybauskaitė, even though she worked in Brussels for several years and had the chance to watch the political culture of old European democracies, neither understands nor intends to respect those principles.
Tłumaczenie by Elwira Łykus w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Elwira Łykus within the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.
