BNS – A rally was held in Vilnius on Sunday afternoon to protest against demands by the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania (EAPL), a member of the ruling coalition, to allow bilingual spelling of location names and non-Lithuanian letters in personal names in documents, …
BNS Lithuania’s Minister of Education and Science Dainius Pavalkis is disappointed with the Supreme Administrative Court of Lithuania’s decision not to hear the issue of a facilitated Lithuanian-language exam for ethnic minority schools quickly but to adjourn the ruling until the middle of July when …
A signatory to the 11th of March Declaration, Česlovas Okinčicas has praised Foreign Affairs Minister Linas Linkevičius for his public apology to the Polish nation, which was recently delivered in Warsaw. According to Okinčicas, the apology from the Minister represents a very strong and important …
Edvardas Pocius | The Lithuania Tribune MEP Valdemar Tomaševski, the leader of the Electoral Action for Poles in Lithuania (EAPL), threatened to leave the ruling coalition on Sunday. The MEP once again demanded for easier Lithuanian language examination for pupils of national minorities. The fact …
In the long term, the aims of Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania (EAPL) and the Polish ethnic minority might differ, because for the party it is useful to maintain constant tension between Lithuania and Poland, according to Tomas Janeliūnas, Professor at Institute of International …
Edvardas Trusevičius has been seconded from his position with the Association of Poles in Lithuania to the post of Vice-Minister of culture. He states that his first task is to prepare a new law on national minorities which would legalise both bilingual signs in areas …
Warsaw views the first signals from Vilnius about national minorities as very promising, Polish Senate member Bogdan Klich, the country’s former defense minister, said in Lithuania on Friday. The prominent Polish politician emphasized that Poland was awaiting Lithuania’s decisions about Polish-language education and the right …
During the new Government’s meeting with the opposition Conservative group, the Cabinet of Ministers expressed intention to address issues of Polish minority, delfi.lt reported on 12 December. Irena Degutienė asked how the new Government will address the requests raised by the Polish minority – spelling …
The Deputy Speaker of the Seimas Česlovas Juršėnas is defending Dalia Grybauskaitė’s decision not to visit the meeting of Baltic States leaders in Poland aimed at discussing NATO matters, delfi.lt reported on 11 April. According to Č. Juršėnas, by making such decision the President “just …
President Dalia Grybauskaitė decided not to go to the meeting with Baltic countries leaders organised by Poland president Bronislaw Komorowski in Warsaw, announced delfi.lt on 10 April. At this meeting, President of Poland is willing to discuss issues of NATO summit in Chicago with the …
Authors: Vytis Jurkonis, Wojciech Borodzicz-Smoliński; published in neweasterneurope.eu on 31 March. Lithuanian–Polish relations, though far from being perfect in the political sense, are on a very good level in economic terms. This awkward situation is not only a hard task for policy makers, but may …
Polish elites need to understand Lithuanian fears, however, and Lithuania needs to understand Poland’s annoyance with the prohibition of the use of Polish lettering by the Polish minority in Lithuanian residential areas, according to writer, former dissident and political activist Adam Michnik, delfi.lt writes on …
On 27 March at the meeting with the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities Knut Vollebaek, Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis emphasized the more active dialogue between the Government and the national minorities, and efforts to solve problems in the Vilnius region, Ministry …
It is not right to gain political capital at the expense of children’s education, says the Minister of Education Gintaras Steponavičius when commenting on the protest demonstration over the education in national minority schools planned for Saturday, lrytas.lt reports on 17 March. “The recent protests, …
At the time of the national minority demonstration in Vilnius on Saturday no serious incidents took place, however, 4 people were detained for affray. At the same time 3armed youngsters were detained at the Lithuanian-Polish border. According to the Police Department, Polish citizens armed with …
Two Polish visitors, who came to Vilnius on Saturday morning, said they wanted to support their fellow nationals in Lithuania. However, they also meant to stress that the two nations and countries could co-exist peacefully, nurture friendly relationship drawing from centuries-old common history, 15min.lt reports. …
Several thousand people gathered in Vilnius on Saturday to take part in a protest against new provisions for education in national minority schools. The rally was organized by Polish Schools of Lithuania Strike Committees and other representatives of the Polish community, 15min.lt reports. According to …
Alfonsas Eidintas, historian and Lithuania’s former ambassador to the USA, Canada, Mexico, Israel, and Norway, has recently published a second book on Lithuania’s inter-war president Antanas Smetona. The book is called “Antanas Smetona and His Environment” and the author has kindly agreed to let 15min.lt …
Aleksander Kwaśniewski, Poland’s former leader remarked that Poland being a bigger country, it should better understand Lithuania’s responsiveness, delfi.lt reported on the 25th February. Aleksander Kwaśniewski and Valdas Adamkus, former heads of state, participated in the “Profession: the President” discussion, at the Vilnius Book Fair. …
The neighbouring Latvia, where the only national language now is Latvian, is holding a referendum next month: its citizens will be asked whether Russian should be recognised as the second national language. In Latvia, which has 2.2 million residents, Russian is native to more than …
