Vilnius launches Polish-Lithuanian MEP investigation

Tomaszewski is also the leader of the Polish Election Action in Lithuania.

The accusation was filed by the Lithuanian Centre Party after Tomaszewski said in an interview for the Respublika daily that, “It is Lithuanians in the Vilnius region who should try to integrate and not Poles.”

The attorney general’s office is thought to consider the statement in breach of Art. 170 of the Lithuanian Penal Code, which carries a potential two year prison sentence.

Commenting on negative consequences for the Polish minority in Lithuania introduced by amendments to Lithuania’s Education Act for Respublika in mid April, MEP Tomaszewski further said that, “We [Poles] have always been living here. The Lithuanians should integrate, as they are the ones who arrived to this region. This is our land. There are only Polish names at old cemeteries in Vilnius.”

This opinion caused an uproar among Lithuanian political circles. There have even been voices that with such statement the head of the Polish Election Action has spoken against the sovereignty of the Lithuanian state. (ss/pg)