There was already similar intergroup functioning in 2009-2014 and chaired by a hungarian MEP Csaba Tabajdi. MEP Tomaševski was one of its most active members thanks to what a special debate with the High Representative of the European Commission on the situation of Polish minority in Lithuania took part in March last year. Then Members unanimously supported the postulates of Poles from the Vilnius Region, while the chairman Tabajdi addressed to the Lithuanian authorities a clear message saying that 'Polish minority in Lithuania has to have rights guaranteed by the Lithuanian state law. The position of the President Grybauskaitė is inadmissible as it leads in the direction of forced assimilation. We will protect all the minorities as this is our obligation. This is our message to the President of Lithuania. There is no consensus to such treatment of Poles.'

The Intergroup for Traditional Minorities, National Communities and Languages is one of the biggest intergroups in the European Parliament. There are 65 MEPs from 21 member states representing all the political groups. The intergroup is dealing with the protection of rights of national and ethnic minorities, minority and regional languages and promotion of cultural, linguistic and ethnic diversity in the European Union.