Lituanica

The largest Lithuanian daily Lietuvos Rytas published an article today.  Even though some developments took place since the article was published but the feeling in Lithuanian in the morning was such.  The BNS agency translated it, have a look.

“The sonorous speeches about strategic partnership between Poland and Lithuania, the joint energy and political front against Russia in shatters.”“The honeymoon between Warsaw and Vilnius is over, crisis in bilateral relations continues deepening.” “Poles slap Lithuanians on the face.”These are the headlines published by Lithuania’s largest daily newspaper Lietuvos Rytas on Thursday to describe the negotiations on the energy bridge from Lithuania via Poland to Western Europe, which ended without a result on Wednesday.During the talks that lasted into early hours of Tuesday and all day Wednesday, Lithuanian politicians and diplomats made every effort to ensure signing of the vital document during the Vilnius conference of energy security. The document was expected to become one of the main results of the forum.

The international event is intended to search for ways of liberating from energy dependence on Russian resources.However, all attempts to persuade the Poles were unsuccessful. The official version was the failure to prepare all necessary documentations. Both parties exchanged promises to prepare the documents and sign the agreement by the end of the month. Yet there are growing doubts that the agreement would be signed, said the Lietuvos Rytas.The political move of Poland’s top officials seconded the threats made by the country’s Economy Minister Piotr Wozniak who last week started to unexpectedly blackmail Lithuania.During his stay in Vilnius last week, Wozniak said directly that Lithuania was ought to provide Poland with the bulk of electricity generated by the future power plant to prevent stalling of the energy bridge project.

After the statement, some political reviewers guessed whether this could be the minister’s personal stance, which reflected the political turmoil in Poland, or the Warsaw attempt to check Lithuania’s reaction in order to see the yielding Lithuania was willing to make.Nevertheless, Wozniak’s statements were verbatim restated by Polish President Lech Kaczynski on Wednesday, said the Lietuvos Rytas.Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus made a last-ditch attempt to dispel the black clouds: “We did not sign the agreement on the (energy) bridge for the sole reason that the documents had not been prepared in time, but this project has to be carried out. I think we will sign the document by the end of this month.”Lithuanian diplomats made no secret of their disappointment and frustration. Some of them described the Polish move as a huge mistake.

Even before the official statement about delay in the signing, Lithuania’s former foreign minister, MP Antanas Valionis, forecasted this would cause a crisis in Lithuanian-Polish relations.“What can we do. We waited for this for 16 years, we can wait a few more days. I still believe we had not been deceived and the Poles will not follow the former German leader Gerhard Schroeder who later received a position with the Russian concern Gazprom,” said Valionis.“We will see soon whether the routine promise would become reality,” the daily cited a top-ranking Lithuanian diplomat as saying. In his opinion, Lithuania will issue a strong-worded response to the Polish blackmailing about influence in the future power plant. “We have to reinforce our work in the direction of an energy bridge with Sweden. This should make our neighbours get real. In the purely economic sense, they need the energy bridge just as much as we do,” said the diplomat.Asked to name the true causes of Polandn’s procrastination, he referred to a few: “First of all, this is an eternal problem with Poland, which came to light during the negotiations over Mazeikiu Nafta (Mazeikiai Oil). The Economy Ministry is thinking in a narrow and simple manner - percent, megawatts, maximum profit. Figures of the large country view Lithuania and the other Baltic states superiorly and are, therefore, unable to see the strategic and geopolitical level. However, our hope is always their President’s Office and we are trying to work hard with it.”

In the diplomat’s words, another reason behind the procrastination is the Oct. 21 parliamentary elections in Poland. The Polish president also referred to the factor in the Wednesday’s talks. A political force headed by the Polish president and his twin brother Jaroslaw Kaczynski stands a chance of staying in power, however, they may have to share it with the Liberals who are currently in opposition.“The president is unwilling to give his opponents an opportunity to accuse him of failure to defend Poland’s interests. And the so-called Polish interests have always been one of his main political slogans,” the diplomat told the Lietuvos Rytas.Source BNS