XVII Congress of the Union of Poles in Lithuania started on Saturday at 11 a.m. Among the guests were, among others, a member of parliament from the Third Way club Tadeusz Samborski and Andrzej Zapałowski z Confederation – both belong to the Parliamentary Team for the Borderlands of the Republic of Poland.
Also present were: a representative of Poland Ministry of Foreign Affairs Paul CieplakAmbassador of the Republic of Poland to Lithuania Konstanty Radziwiłłconsul Irmina Szmalecpresident of the Society of Friends of Vilnius and the Vilnius Region from Toruń Józef Szyłejka.
“The presence of the Polish ambassador, Mr. Radziwiłł, is significant normalization of Warsaw's policy towards the Polish People's Republic“After all, six years ago there were attempts to manually control the elections of the president,” said Karol Kaźmierczak from the Kresy.pl portal.
Among Lithuanian politicians, apart from the president of the Union, the MEP Waldemar Tomaszewskimembers of parliament from the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania-Union of Christian Families also appeared: Rita Tamašuniene i Czesław Olszewski.
The convention, which gathered 341 delegates, began with the singing of “Rota”. Then, President Tomaszewski, who was ending his term, gave a report on the activities of the union. As he informed, the ZPL currently has 9,153 members. The organization's ranks have increased by 545 people since 2021.
Poles in Lithuania. President Waldemar Tomaszewski criticizes Warsaw
During his speech, Tomaszewski criticized the abuse of the Lithuanian language during events of the Polish minority. He emphasized that at events organized by the ZPL, the organizers have the full right to use primarily their native language.
Criticism was also directed at Warsaw. – They wanted to suppress the Union of Poles, they wanted to elect our presidents, they failed – he said.
The president thus referred to: the activities of the former ambassador to Vilnius, Urszula Doroszewskawhich was held before the 15th Congress of the organization was supposed to try to force the then president, Michał Mackiewicz, not to run for re-election.
– We cannot tolerate such a situation when some official, even from our home country, tells us what we have to do and that if we do not do it, he will take away our subsidy. This is a humiliation of our dignity – Tomaszewski emphasized.
Lithuania: Ambassador Konstanty Radziwiłł apologizes
Konstanty Radziwiłł, the Polish ambassador to Lithuania, reacted to these words in a later speech. – The motherland, Poland, is not in a situation where it can tell any of you what to do – he emphasized.
– Poles in Lithuania have their own organization, they govern themselves and they know better than anyone else what is needed and what the tasks should be. And if it sometimes happens that the Polish representative went beyond the role of general support for Poles, I would like to apologize very much for that.. If something like this happened, it certainly shouldn't have happened. You are the hosts here, and we from Poland have an obligation to support you – he added.
In his speech, Radziwiłł also criticized initiatives undertaken by the Lithuanian state, which are “aimed at the Polish electorate.” He suggested that Lithuania is not implementing the provisions of the treaty on friendly relations and good-neighborly cooperation from 30 years ago.
Lithuania: Third Way MP supports Ambassador Radziwiłł
The activities of Ambassador Radziwiłł, who comes from a PiS political family, praised MP Samborski from the Third Way. As he added, Radziwiłł's words “express the position of the Republic of Poland.” – The issues of Poles in Lithuania will not be sacrificed on the altar of political correctness and good relations. We avoid discord, we want good relations, but based on truth, he said.
After closing the discussion, discharge was granted to the Management Board and the Audit Committee by acclamation. An open procedure for electing the president was also chosen by acclamation.
The only candidate turned out to be the incumbent president, Waldemar Tomaszewski. The election of the politician for the next term as president of the Polish People's Congress was supported by 310 people gathered. Three, including Tomaszewski himself, abstained from voting. Nobody raised their hand against it.
Union of Poles in Lithuania. Cares about historical memory
ZPL was founded in 1989 during the period of national revival and is the largest Polish organization in Lithuania.
The Association conducts educational and cultural activities, organizes many sports and social events, and cares for the historical memory and Polish heroes in Lithuania.
About 160,000 people live in Lithuania. Poles who are Lithuanian citizens. It is the largest national minority in the country, constituting 6.5%. Lithuanian society.