9 May
Distinguished Fellow-parliamentarians of the Lithuanian and Polish
Parliaments,
Your Excellencies Ambassadors,
Dear Guests,
This is a privilege and my first opportunity to participate in the
session of the Assembly of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania and the Sejm
and the Senate of the Republic of Poland. I will certainly benefit from the
occasion to furhter expand the relations with the fellow-parliamentarians of
the Republic of Poland and gain a better insight into the major issues ruffling
the relations between our two countries. Moreover, the session lends an
excellent opportunity to make a positive contribution to the process of solving
some of the issues at hand.
Ever since I have started in my present position in November last year,
my agenda has frequently included issues pertaining to the relations between
Lithuania and Poland, and my contacts with the Polish colleagues have been
particularly numerous. It is true that my first meeting with Mr Bronislaw
Komorowski, Speaker (Marshal) of the Sejm of the Repblic of Poland, did not
take place in Vilnius on 13 January as expected. Not even in Warsaw.
Instead, we met in Paris in February. This is fairly symbolic, as Paris was the
place where Adam Mickiewicz wrote The Books and the Pilgrimage of the Polish
Nation, an oeuvre published last year thanks to the joint initiative of Mr Česlovas
Juršenas and Mr Bronislaw Komorowski, Speakers of the Lithuanian and
Polish Parliaments, to mark the 210th birth anniversary of the writer. It was
in Paris that Adam Mickiewicz authored the lines, Lithuania united with Poland like a
betrothed bride with a bridegroom, two souls in one body. And there never
before existed such a union of nations yet, hereafter, such a union shall
exist. As we mark our 5th anniversary of EU membership today, we can now truly
comprehend the full power of the poets insight and give a thought to the
relations between the bride and bridegroom named by Adam Mickiewicz in the
context of implementation of the Agreement signed on 26 April 1994, as well as
consider the role that parliamentary cooperation played in the process.
We promptly set to form our Delegation to the Assembly in the early days
of the new legislative period of the Seimas. The Delegation includes Mr
Česlovas Juršėnas and Mr Arvydas Vidžiūnas, former Chairmen of the
Assembly, Ms Irena Degutienė, First Deputy Speaker of the Seimas, Mr
Valdemaras Tomaševskis, the Lithuanian presidential candidate, and new MPs
serving their first parliamentary term whose fresh approach to the problems
under concideration will hopefully be beneficial to the entire Assembly.
It is my wish that the Assembly operates well. With this purpose in
mind, at our meeting in Vilnius in March, I proposed to Mr Jaroslaw
Kalinowski, Chairman of the Assembly, the establishment of a bilateral Working
Group dedicated to addressing the most urgent issues of bilateral cooperation
and finding solutions acceptable to both sides. Back then, Chairman of the
Assembly seemed to favour the idea. Later on, during my visit to Warsaw, I met
with the Speakers (Marshals) of the Sejm and the Senate, President of Poland,
and MPs. After the meetings, I was firmly persuaded that the establishment of
the working group I had proposed was genuinely reasonable. This is the solution
we go for during this legislative period of the Seimas in order to tackle the existing
problems without further ado. I am satisfied with the work of the members of
the Working Group in preparation for todays session. I hope to visit Sejny and
Punsk before my official visit to Warsaw in early June. This could provide a
further stimulus for solving some of the issues.
I was informed that the previous sessions of the Assembly hosted lengthy
discussions on issues regarding the spelling of surnames. This is one of the
things covered in the Agreement. May I inform you that we have elaborated a
draft appeal to the Constitutional Court, which is currently deliberated in the
Seimas committees, and should soon be ready for deliberations at the plenary
hall of the Seimas. This means there is enough political will to address the
issue.
Today, the subject of the session allows for an overview and assessment
in real terms of the dynamic development of the relations between Lithuania and
Poland. Ample positive changes can be observed within those past years. We have
become strategic partners and establishers of a good number of joint
initiatives in the international context. There are no barriers for travel
between Lithuania and Poland. By using their purchasing power, the citizens of
Lithuania are making their contribution to the mitigation of the effects of the
credit crunch in Poland, whereas the Polish politicians see Vilnius as a good
place for an effective electoral campaign...
Ladies and
Gentlemen, todays occasion lends a good opportunity to remind us of the fact
that fairly recently, on 16 April, President of the Republic of Poland Lech
Kaczynski addressed the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania. I want to
highlight his memorable evaluation of the relations between our two nations:
Poland and Lithuania, as any two nations with strong historical connections,
do have bilateral problems, too. These problems need to be solved for the sake
of common interests. These problems are not serious. They should not hinder
anything, and in particular they should not represent a barrier to addressing strategic
and fundamental issues. To my mind, a more exact identification of the
situation is hardly possible. Indeed, we should not sacrifice fundamental
issues and continue bickering about the unresolved problems at their expense.
Dear Members of the Assembly, I hope that this will be the result your future
activities will bring about.
I think you should pool your efforts to address the question on the
agenda of todays session: What next?.
This brief phrase encapsulates the things we should consider, including
the attainments gained from our long-lasting experience and the things we can
do to further improve our relations. It is only wise to use our full potential
for addressing the essential problems so that our two states may enjoy energy
security and security of other areas in future. It is only wise to make our
citizens feel good regardless of whether they belong to the Polish national
minority in Lithuania or Lithuanian national minority in Poland. Equally, our
joint efforts have to serve to promote democratic change in our neighbourhood.
This is particularly relevant after the EU Neighbourhood Policy guidelines were
adopted in Prague several days ago. Therefore, I welcome you to the session and
wish you every success in tackling all those issues of fundamental importance.
