The government will deal with the issues of national minorities

Representatives of the Lithuanian cabinet office and ministries have decided on Monday that a new structure will be established to deal with national minorities – as there are many issues to be resolved on the governmental level.

“We decided that such a commission or a council should be created” – informed the deputy head of the cabinet office, Deividas Matulionis, explaining that the future “commission, together with the communities of national minorities, would coordinate, among others, the problem-solving of the economic problems in Southeastern Lithuania.” This issue became particularly relevant after the decision of the European Commission to divide the country into two regions: the region of Vilnius and Central-Western Lithuania. It is assumed that as a result of this division, the Vilnius region will receive less EU support.

“The Ministry of Finance should participate in this process and present a vision on how to prevent the Vilnius region from suffering as a result of the new division,” said Matulionis.

According to Matulionis, the newly established structure would also settle the issues of education among Poles, Russians, Belarusians, Jews and other national minority representatives living in Lithuania.

The decision on establishing the committee will be made by the government. It will be chaired by the deputy head of the cabinet office and will include representatives of different ministries, the Department of National Minorities and communities of national minorities.

Currently, the issues of national minorities are determined by the Council of National Communities established in 2015. It includes representatives of national communities and other organizations, but no government representatives.