Despite past grievances, Lithuanian FM hopes for good relations with new Polish government
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis says that he will set aside past grievances and focus on the future in his relations with Warsaw after Donald Tusk was sworn in as Poland’s new prime minister on Wednesday.
“I believe that we will base our cooperation on this and not look back to the past. We will look to the future and [focus on] what we need to do,” Landsbergis told BNS in an interview on Wednesday.
Tusk served as Poland’s prime minister between 2007 and 2014. Bilateral relations between Vilnius and Warsaw during that period were marred by disagreements over the Polish oil group Orlen’s investments and the situation of the Polish-speaking minority in Lithuania.
Vilnius and Warsaw
Radosław Sikorski, who was Poland’s foreign minister back then and was also given the job in the new government, was particularly categorical towards Lithuania.
He has said in the past that he will not come to Lithuania until the issues raised by ethnic minorities are resolved.
In excerpts from a secretly recorded conversation released by the Polish media in 2017, Sikorski told Orlen CEO Jacek Krawiec that he wanted to “to teach Lithuanians a lesson”.
In the conversation laced with foul language, Poland’s top diplomat referred to Lithuania as “a tiny state”.
Reportedly, Sikorski’s conversations were secretly recorded during private meetings in Warsaw restaurants in 2013 and 2014.
“I want to teach Lithuanians a lesson, so that they don’t think that s***ting on Poland won’t cost anything,” Sikorski was quoted as saying.
In Wednesday’s interview with BNS, Landsbergis described his relations with Sikorski as “excellent”.
“I communicated with the then MEP Sikorski on more than one occasion. Our relations are really excellent,” the Lithuanian foreign minister said.
“I believe they are based, first, on the same geopolitical perception and the risks for both our countries,” he added.
The Tusk-led coalition ousted the right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party from power in general elections held in mid-October.