The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland expressed his opinion that in the current situation not words, but concrete actions from the part of the Lithuanian Government are important, and 'the government in Vilnius did nothing in order to improve the situation of the Polish minority in Lithuania, whose rights are being restricted'.
'It is very nice that the Prime Minister of Lithuania is ready to meet and talk, but it would be even better if Lithuania would solve one of the most serious problems which has been unresolved for twenty years,' the Minister said in an interview with IAR. He also added, that 'there were many talks, and now it would be good to have some actions, because the situation has not improved but deteriorated in recent years.'
R. Sikorski said that as the result of the expiry of the Law on National Minorities in 2010 in Lithuania there is currently an unclear situation and violation of the rights of national minorities. 'That's why we witness these scandalous administrative penalties for something that should be financed from the state budget. Instead of supporting the minorities, penalties are imposed,' said the head of the Polish Foreign Ministry.
We would like to remind that the Prime Minister of Lithuania Algirdas Butkevičius expressed his willingness to meet and discuss the improvement of Polish-Lithuanian relations which deteriorated in recent years with Prime Minister Donald Tusk. However, according to the spokeswoman of the Polish Government Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska, 'the statement of the Lithuanian Prime Minister is only a media-fact now', but if such an offer was officially made, the Polish Government would be ready for conversations.
Polish-Lithuanian relations are tense, especially after the scandalous penalty of 43 thousand litas imposed on the Director of the Administration of the Šalčininkai district self-government Boleslav Daškevič by the Vilnius Regional Court for not having removed the bilingual street-name plates from private buildings in the Šalčininkai district. The Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius expressed his astonishment at the decision of the court and said that the penalty is inadequate to the offense.
Based on polskieradio.pl
