IMPRESSION
Mirosław Piotrowski
I invited my colleagues MEPs for a concert on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of independence gained by Poland. The concert took place in Brussels in the European Parliament.
I cannot as I must be in Krynica at that time - one of them said. An Economy Forum. I must be there. Vis maior. Others could. From Austria, Germany, Italy, also from Lithuania. From Vilnius, among the others, a Euro-deputy Waldemar Tomaszewski, a chief of the Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania arrived, as well as Valentinas Mazuronis, the former minister of environment of the Lithuania Republic. The first one had met with a group from Poland before, in which there were diplomats, self-governors, representatives of Polish business (among the others, chairmen of mines), media (among the others, of the Catholic Weekly ‘Sunday’), music (from ‘Budka Suflera’) and others. He spoke about Poles abroad, particularly those in Lithuania. Their life is not easy. It is years since they have been fighting for maintaining Polishness there. The Lithuanian authorities, gently speaking, make it hard for them. However, Poles do not give in, relying on their homeland. However, to their despair, the latter one does not coddle them. It is said to be negotiating with the Lithuanian authorities. For years. And nothing. Recently it has changed a way and decided to flatter the Lithuanian government. It attacked its own compatriots, using its subordinated foundation Help to Poles in the East, which, despite its name, began to persecute Poles in Lithuania. Why? A lot of people are troubled. Surely, they became too organizational and have their own MEPs in the Lithuanian Seym, In the Euro-parliament, in local governments, among the others, the mayor of the Vilnius region is their representative. Nowhere in the world is the Polish minority so well-organized in a political sense.
Paradoxically, as I hear, their power and independence began to be inconvenient for the Polish government. Does one need any impression to understand all motifs of the proceeding of the Polish authorities? Undoubtedly, in the European Parliament everybody was impressed by an excellent Polish tenor singer Bogusław Morka in a beautiful concert entitled: ‘The cross and the eagle’, which I mentioned in the beginning. The concert was attended by the main correspondent of TVP in Brussels, but in private. She could not take any cameras with her. A chairman Jacek (I send my greetings to him by the way) told (or was told) to film an event of the local Committee for the Defence of Democracy at that time. Vis maior. There are important and more important issues. But for whom? And returning to the Economy Forum in Krynica, the prime minister of Lithuania Saulius Skvernelis became the man of the year. The award was granted by the prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki who emphasized joyfully that the laureate is his friend and has frequent and close contacts with him.
Translated by Aneta Amrozik
Niedziela 37/2018 (16 IX 2018)