• March 13, 2017
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A Seimas group for integration of minorities: Ažubalis, Kasčiūnas, Pavilionis, Razma

A temporary Michał Römer Seimas group has been created on Monday. A conservative Audronius Ažubalis has been chosen as its leader.

The group has also been joined by other members of conservative party: Laurynas Kasčiūnas, Žygimantas Pavilionis, Jurgis Razma. „The aim of the group is to reduce political, social and cultural isolation of the Vilnius Region inhabitants, their integration to political life of economical and cultural country” – informed Kasčiūnas, one of the group members.

According to Ažubalis, agreement between different national communities in the country can be achieved only by aiming at mutual vision of homeland, which was described by a distinguished lawyer and dean of the Faculty of Law at Vytautas Magnus University – Michał Römer. It is an important figure for both Poles and Lithuanians.

Ažubalis says that the figure of Römer deserves special attention also because of characteristic understanding of national identity. Being a Pole, rector of many years at the Vytautas Magnus University was a Lithuanian patriot. ‘I am a Pole, a real Lithuanian citizen, but not a borderland inhabitant… Lithuania with its capital in Vilnius is a mutual homeland of Lithuanians and lithuanian Poles’ – he wrote. The founders of Michał Römer group want to popularize such identity model in Vilnius Region, among others, taking examples from respectable historical figures.

Michał Römer group members are aiming to integrate national minorities with lithuanian society, citizenship and patriotism. Its members want to guarantee citizens of all Lithuanian regions to feel of full value and to have a chance to get an education and to make certain of prosperity in Lithuania.

Translated by Agnieszka Piontek within the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.

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