Vilnius Forum meets with Čmilytė-Nielsen

Vilnius Forum meets with Čmilytė-Nielsen

The Vilnius Forum, in accordance with its announcement, continues a series of meetings with leading Lithuanian politicians and party executives. These meetings aim at presenting Polish society’s issues in Lithuania as well as outlining the paths to mutual agreement. On Wednesday, July 5th, the Vilnius Forum met with the chairwoman of the parliament of Lithuania Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, president of the Liberal Union. The meeting took place at the Lithuanian Parliament building.

Return of land, surnames, Polish schools in Lithuania

Aleksander Radczenko, the adviser to the parliament chairwoman, was also present during the working meeting. Debated were the cases of Poles in Lithuania – Polish schools, return of land, funding the Polish media in Lithuania by the government and, to a lesser extent, Polish-Lithuanian relations.

The topics of the spelling of surnames, bilingual signs and the gap which needs to be filled by a new Act on national minorities were also discussed. They were closed only partially by the last legislation. 

Not everyone is interested in solving problems

The chairwoman Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen talked about the difficulties, which slow down the problem-solving of the issues mentioned. She pointed out that political forces in the parliament are not interested in solving them. Nevertheless, tangible progress has already begun in the work.

She added that a time is coming when the issues of national minorities present for many years will be solved.

No one will build a relationship for us

It was a friendly and constructive meeting, with many reflections and reasonable conclusions following the exchange of opinions. At the meeting, it was agreed that the deterioration of Polish-Lithuanian relations and the cover-up of the problem would benefit the enemy and strengthen the policy of division. The Vilnius Forum will continue the meetings with party executives and will continue to present Polish issues to the Lithuanian politicians.