A. Lipiński: for certain, we won’t leave B. Daszkiewicz without help

– Inflicting such a harsh punishment on a warden of the local government of Šalčininkai district Bolesław Daszkiewicz for not removing bilingual placards from private houses in Poland has been faced with incomprehension and puzzlement – said MP Adam Lipiński, vice-chairman of Polish party Law and Justice while a meeting with acquaintances of Lithuanian Parliament.

A meeting, which took place on Thursday morning in the A. Brazauskas Parliamentary Hall, had been initiated by Jarosław Narkiewicz, vice Marshal of the Sejm of RL, who had sent an invitation to each of chairmen of Polish parliamentary factions. As the vice Marshal was explaining, he initiated it “to remove tension and for normalization of relations”, because it has sparked again there and Law and Justice was the first to react. Vilnius were also to be visited by the chairman of Polish right wing party – Jarosław Kaczyński, but he called off the mission due to an illness. MPs of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania’s faction, a candidate for the President, Linas Balsys, and MPs who are the members of Polish-Lithuanian Interparliamentary Assembly took part in it.

A Polish MP said that he does not imagine such situation in Poland, when a citizen would be punished for placing a writing in non-Polish language within a private property. “It is simply impossible. I hope that kind of things does not occur in the other countries” – said A. Lipiński.

Adam Lipiński informed that Lithuanian court’s controversial decision about inflicting a horrendous punishment was the subject of a deliberation in the Committee for Contacts with Poles Abroad, which he preside over. He persuaded that the punishment is an effect of the lack of political will and of the national minorities act, which would settle ticklish issues.

– Such act works in Poland and is adulated. I have not heard yet the Ukrainian, Belarussian, Lithuanian or even German national minority would be dissatisfied with that act – said present-day guest of RL Parliament.

The Polish MP repeatedly expressed huge disappointment with politicized decision of the court and lack of Lithuanian politician’s goodwill.

– In the light of that drastic case of inflicting the punishment, how to act, how should we understand it and what to do further, explain, please, the reasons of such unfounded treatment of Polish minority – asked frankly a politician from Warsaw.

Gediminas Kirkilas, vice-chairman of RL Parliament, tried to answer the question. He told that for  normalization of relations “the dialogue, the dialogue, and once again the dialogue” is needed.

He confirmed willingness to dissertate the situation with Polish politicians also from the other options, because only blunt and honest conversations can lead to constructive solutions.

According to MP Bronius Bradauskas, living conflicts (in which he apparently included the issue of bilingual placards) are rated at a too high level, which is insalubrious and incomprehensible. He proposed that the Poles in Lithuania had the same rights as the Lithuanians have in Poland. The MPs from the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania’s faction retorted that the Lithuanians have the right to an original spelling of surnames and bilingual information boards for a long time already. A conservative, Mantas Adomėnas, tried to be ironic and stated that „in the past, we had The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; now, we have The Polish-Lithuanian Radicalism”. Lipiński noticed that he is not a radicalist, but he is inolved in the fight for human rights for a long time and he is assessing an incomprehensible demeanour of Lithuanian authorities from this point of view.

– A dialog is a dialog, but we have a concrete problem, we have no guarantee and no declaration that punishments won’t be inflicted in the future – pointed out Lipiński.

– The meeting is a good opportunity for exchange of views. We thought that all the ticklish issues are possible to deal with on the coalition’s Political Council, but it turned out that not always. We are conducting and we are looking for partners to the dialog, but meanwhile harsh penalties are inflicted, which is an exception on an European scale – said Rita Tamaszuniene, the chairwoman of the Parliamentary Faction of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania.

She added that the influence on negative forming the public opinion have the radicals who failed to get in the Parliament, but they stir a hatred and hostility spiral towards the Poles and their representative’s involvement in the RL Parliament and coalition.

Despite while the meeting a different stances and different views have been presented, the participants reached a cooperative conclusion that there is lack of one, solid information base about the location of minorities in both of countries.

A. Lipiński has put forth a proposal to the Lithuanian Government for use a good Polish practice in the field of observation ethnic minorities’ rights. “Let’s make an appointment in such locations in Poland, where ethnic minorities live closely so that Lithuanian politicians can see how such issues are resolved in Poland. More information and more meetings are wanted, which would be effective because we are experiencing a political discomfort for too long already” – said a Polish politician.

The deputation of Polish MPs, which will include also vice-chairman of Law and Justice party, Mariusz Błaszczak, will meet with the representatives of the Filiate of Białystok University in Vilnius. The guests will also visit Šalčininkai, where they will see the representatives of the local community and the warden of the Local Government of Šalčininkai District.

Source: http://l24.lt/pl/polityka/item/26770-a-lipinski-na-pewno-nie-pozostawimy-b-daszkiewicza-bez-pomocy

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