The visit of high-level representatives of the European Parliament was accompanied by meetings with the President Dalia Grybauskaitė, members of the Lithuanian Seimas. The opening ceremony of the European House on the Gediminas avenue in Vilnius also took place at that time. The events did not remain unnoticed by the representatives of the Polish minority, who, by demanding the observation of the basic rights of each citizen in Lithuania, want to have their voices heard also at the European forum.

The meeting with the EAPL leadership

On Thursday 30th May, during their visit to Lithuania, the chairman of the ECR Group Martin Callanan together with the ECR General Secretary Frank Barrett met with the leader of the Lithuanian Delegation in the ECR, the leader of the EAPL and the Member of the European Parliament Valdemar Tomaševski as well as with the EAPL leadership.

The meeting was held at the ECR office in Vilnius. ECR is the only group in the European Parliament to have its office in Lithuania. ‘We are happy that having such an eventful schedule you found time to meet with the EAPL leadership. We are extremely pleased with the fruitful cooperation of our party with the ECR Group,’- MEP Valdemar Tomaševski welcomed the guests.

The meeting was also attended by Rita Tamašunienė, the chairwoman of the EAPL faction in the Seimas of Lithuania, Zdislav Palevič, the vice-chairman of the EAPL and Zbignev Jedinskij, the member of the Seimas and the mayor of Šalčininkai district.

At the meeting with the EU delegates, the EAPL representatives raised the question of the upcoming elections to the European Parliament. They expressed their regret over the artificial attempts of larger parties to raise the electoral threshold and thereby reduce the possibility of smaller parties to participate in the elections to the EU Parliament.

M. Callanan expressed his enjoyment regarding the excellent cooperation with the EAPL party and voiced the hope that after the next year elections the ECR will be able to greet a bigger group of MEPs from the EAPL.

Ignored question

During the EP delegation's visit at the Presidential Palace on Thursday, the chairman of the ECR Group turned to the President and the Cabinet of Ministers with the question whether and when the problems of national minorities will be solved. Unfortunately, this query has not been answered, and, even more, it was simply ignored.

Nevertheless, Callanan did not admit the defeat and during the meeting in the Lithuanian Seimas on the next day, where the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz and the EP delegation met with the members of Lithuanian Seimas, returned to the question of the rights of national minorities in Lithuania. These issues were also addressed by other chairmen of the EP political groups.

The issues of national minorities in Lithuania were presented by the Deputy Speaker of the Lithuanian Seimas Jaroslav Narkevič (EAPL). ‘National identity should be protected in an appropriate, legal way in the state that belongs to the European Union. A legal base should be developed, which will not only protect the values, but also nurture them. It is strange that in one of the EU member states people are punished for hanging plates on their houses with bilingual street names or for trying to speak in their mother tongue alongside the state language,’ commented Jaroslav Narkevič noting that in Lithuania the Act of National Minorities has expired.  According to the Deputy Speaker the Act was ‘the only one to protect national values.’

European House with a picket in the background

In turn, on Friday morning the opening ceremony of the European House was held. This event was accompanied by the picket against violations of the rights of national minorities. 'Mr. Schulz, would you mind being called Šulcas?', 'Europe, protect our rights', 'NO for financial repressions', 'Hands off L. Kotlovska and B. Daškevič!' - the posters were reflecting opinions of the people gathered in front of the newly opened European House.

'We want European leaders to help us. There is no other way that our voices are heard, that is why we came to the picket,' said one of the participants. 'The same conditions for the protection of human rights should be guaranteed for everybody in Europe. Lithuania is a part of the European Union, therefore, every citizen of our country has the same right to the European standards,' another participant claimed, who was not satisfied with the current situation of human rights in Lithuania and wanted its improvement.

'I came here today because I want my views on usage of bilingual street names and penalties imposed for doing this to be heard,' said a student taking part in the picket and added that he is not satisfied with the unification of the Lithuanian language's final exam for Lithuanians and national minorities; he also remained discontented with the gradual expulsion of the Polish language in educational institutions that use mainly Polish language for teaching.

Media falseness continues

The opening ceremony of the European House was attended by the Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė, the visiting President of the EP Martin Schulz and the EU Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Viviane Reding as well as by the Seimas members, Lithuanian government representatives, the management of the offices of state, and ambassadors.

The President in her speech referred to the picket saying that she understands the position of those people as they have the right to express their opinion.

Although, on the eve of Lithuania's Presidency of the EU, the head of state has repeatedly stressed the importance of every citizen being heard in Europe, but that is what our country is most famous for - its constant violations of the rights of national minorities; and the President alone does not bother to answer the question posed by the chairman of one of the EP groups. On the other hand, the truth is also often distorted by the Lithuanian media. For instance, the picketing situation at the European House was misleadingly described by Lithuanian radio broadcasting stations - it was said that the picketers demanded an increase of EU subsidies for Lithuania...

The European Commission's Representation, European Parliament's Information Office and the European Institute for Gender Equality will operate under the one roof of the European House.

By Teresa Vorobej