Kirkilas: Changes in the Polish government promise good changes in the Polish-Lithuanian relations

The assumption of the office of the Prime Minister of Poland by Mateusz Morawiecki and changes in the Polish government promise a good change in the Polish-Lithuanian relations – said Gediminas Kirkilas, the Deputy Chairman of the Sejm on Thursday’s interview with the LRT public television.

“The changes are positive. Our neighbor shows that it forfeits the witless ambitions of Radoslaw Sikorski, the former head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and is the first to make concessions, although it is a bigger state” – pointed out Kirkilas.

The politician stressed that Lithuania should make every effort to take the advantage of the current favorable situation and “to settle issues outstanding for years”, such as the spelling of Polish surnames in Lithuania.

He also pointed out that another good signal for Lithuania is the fact that Joachim Budzinski, the former Deputy Speaker of the Polish Sejm, who was also the co-chairman of the Polish-Lithuanian Assembly of Deputies, took the post of the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He noted that “Minister Brudzinski knows well the subject of the Polish-Lithuanian relations.”

Kirkilas, who is also the chairman of the Parliament Committee on European Affairs, expressed his conviction that “the new Polish Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs will be better negotiators in Brussels” and the future negotiations will be successful.

“The Prime Minister is coming in an absolutely new style” – said Kirkilas, speaking about Morawiecki. – There is a lot to do in Brussels, especially when you can communicate without translators.”

The Lithuanian public television stressed that after the frozen Polish-Lithuanian relations during the Civic Platform government, the period of the Renaissance starts on the Warsaw-Vilnius line. It reminded that Marek Kuchciński, the chairman of the Sejm, visited Vilnius in autumn, President Andrzej Duda announced his visit to Lithuania in February and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in March.

Earlier, Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis assured that the Lithuanian government is ready for dialogue with the Polish government and invited Morawiecki to Vilnius. “In Vilnius, we will be able to directly discuss the issues of closer bilateral cooperation and strengthening national security, as well as common objectives related to the European Union and NATO” –  said the Lithuanian head of government.

As he emphasized, Lithuania appreciates Poland’s role in forming the European Union’s standpoint to reflect the interests of the region and common European interests.