BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

07/11/2007

Poland's Foreign Minister Fotyga criticizes Belarus, Germany over Polishminorities

WARSAW. NOVEMBER 7. INTERFAX CENTRAL EUROPE - Poland's outgoing Foreign Affairs Minister Anna Fotyga Wednesday criticized Belarusian and German authorities for their handling of the position of Polish minorities.

"Our opinion is decisively negative as far as the functioning of Polish minorities in Belarus is concerned," Fotyga told reporters.

Fotyga's comments referred to an "extensive" report recently approved by the outgoing Cabinet on the situation of Polish minorities in eight selected countries: Belarus, the Czech Republic, Germany, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Ukraine. The report was not made available to journalists.

In her remarks on the situation in Germany, Fotyga questioned the political will to act for an improvement in the position of the Polish minority.

"Our opinion as far as the [Polish-German] treaty base is concerned, is quite positive, although, the essence is political will to fulfill those treaty arrangements," Fotyga said. "And here accomplishments are far from being sufficient."

Fotyga referred also to Lithuania, pointing to what she sees as a continued improvement in the situation of the Polish minority.

According to ministerial estimates, some two millions Poles live in Germany, around 900,000 in Belarus and some 300,000 in Lithuania.

Source:

http://www.interfax.com/5/332702/news.aspx