During the elections on Sunday, Poles will decide whether the conservative party “Law and Justice” (PiS) should lead the Government for a third term, or the liberal minority advocating closer relations with the European Union (EU).
Lithuanians in Poland claim that no matter who wins the elections, the most important thing is that the interests of national minorities are taken into account, and appropriate funding is allocated to education and culture.
“We from every political party, no matter what it is, as a community, a national minority, want our interests to be taken care of, above all, that the issue of education be resolved,” said the director of Seinų Lithuanian “Žiburio” school on the eve of the BNS elections. Algirdas Vaicekauskas, member of the board of the Polish Lithuanian Society.
At that time, Vytautas Liškauskas, the head of the Punsk county, said that he hoped that the new government would not take away the rights that the national minority currently has.
“The Law on National Minorities works, it allows for wider use of some rights, but it is important that they are not taken away, because if very radical right-wing parties come, then everything is expected,” V. Liškauskas claimed to BNS.
Due to insufficient funds, schools have to be closed
According to A. Vaicekauskas, the “Law and Justice” policy was not favorable to national minorities. He also added that he believes that ethnic minorities do not receive sufficient funding.
“That budget can practically be said to have decreased rather than increased, but the tasks did not actually decrease, but actually increased,” said the school director.
V. Liškauskas also believes that the funds allocated to national minorities have decreased due to inflation in the country.
“As a result, one more school will have to be closed and only three centers with Lithuanian education will remain – Punskas, Seinai and Suvalkai, and Vidugirii school may have to be closed and we will not find help here,” said the mayor of Punskas.
However, he said that he believes that the situation of Lithuanians in Poland is saved by good relations between the presidents and governments of Lithuania and Poland.
He called the policy of Polish national minorities a paradox
A member of the board of the Polish Lithuanian Society called it a paradox that Poland claims to protect the languages of national minorities, but in some Polish municipalities densely populated by Lithuanians, the Lithuanian language has not been established as an auxiliary language.
“The Law on National Minorities provides that if up to 20% in the municipality, the population is dominated by the national minority, it is possible to introduce its language as an auxiliary language in the municipality”, explained A. Vaicekauskas.
According to him, this percentage is exceeded by Punskas, 80% of the population lives in this municipality. Lithuanian. In Sein, one and a half percent is missing from the corresponding limit.
“20 percent is one of the highest limits in Europe. National minorities make up only one percent of the total population in Poland. So I ask, what is there to be afraid of? Are you afraid of the Lithuanian language in Seinai? It turns out, yes,” thought the school director.
According to him, establishing the Lithuanian language as an auxiliary language would raise its prestige in society.
Polish Lithuanians will not vote for the ruling party
V. Liškauskas and A. Vaicekauskas said that Lithuanians in Poland will support the liberal and left-wing opposition more in the upcoming elections.
“It seems that the residents of Punsk will vote more for opposition parties. It was the same four years ago,” said V. Liškauskas.
In his opinion, such a choice will be determined by the Eurosceptic policy of “Law and Justice”.
A. Vaicekauskas noticed that Lithuanians in Poland vote for political parties that are not radical.
“That Polish radicalism is precisely applied to others, it is as if it is formed like that antilenkiška identity,” he asserted.
“The closest non-Poles are us Lithuanians, there are other national minorities,” added the school director.
PiS is currently in the lead in public opinion polls and is supported by about 35 percent. voters, but it is predicted that it may lose its majority in parliament.
Its rival, the Civic Coalition led by Donald Tusk, is only a few percentage points behind PiS, but has been gaining ground lately.
The Civic Coalition and the other two opposition factions together have more public support than the ruling party, but they are weaker because they are not running together in this election. In addition, the final result may be affected by variations in the results of smaller batches.
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2024-09-25 00:02:23
