On September 4^th Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk made a sudden visit to Lithuania in order to express his support for the Polish national minority, members of which had on September 2^nd staged a protest rally against the implementation of the new Law on Education. The visit has drawn criticism from some Lithuanian commentators, saying that it was a rather rude gesture and mostly to do with forthcoming parliamentary elections in Poland.

Ramūnas Vilpišauskas, director of Vilnius University’s International Relations and Political Science Institute, observed that during his visit Tusk delivered two different messages. After meeting his Lithuanian counterpart Andrius Kubilius in Palanga he urged politicians on both sides not to politicize the issue and to try to work together in order to solve the problem. However, during his speech at the Polish church in Vilnius he warned that Poland’s relations with Lithuania would depend upon the Lithuanian administration’s treatment of the Polish minority.

“There was influence of the domestic political context. This is difficult to doubt. I believe we should search for reasons in Poland’s domestic policy, not in what’s happening in Lithuania,” Vilpišauskas told Baltic News Service and was quoted by delfi.lt on September 5^th. “We should hope that the dialogue between the countries becomes more constructive after the elections, and the interpretations, which now often differ in the same decisions in Lithuania and Poland, will become more alike. It sometimes seems that it is not only domestic policy, but also a lack of information, that causes different interpretations on both sides,” Vilpišauskas said.

“There is no need for Tusk to make such a hasty visit,” political commentator Kęstutis Girnius said to the Baltic News Service on September 3^rd and was quoted by Delfi.lt.  “I am very surprised, and not only surprised but also disappointed, as it seems that all diplomatic limits are being crossed. Tusk is in fact coming in a hurry, although it’s not said officially, to support the Polish minority allegedly being harmed, although it’s not. If former Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski led a crusade against Lithuania, then Tusk’s visit now shows that the Polish government itself more or less supports it,” Girnius said.