A survey carried out in Lithuania has found that only 12 percent of respondents consider Poland to be a 'friendly state' while 27 percent characterised it as a 'hostile state.'

Lithuanian flag. Photo: wikipedia

The results show a dramatic drop in trust since 2006, when 53 percent of respondents categorised Poland as a friendly state, with only Latvia gaining a higher approval.

“We have lost a strategic partner,” commented noted Lithuanian political scientist Nerijus Maliukewiczius.

“This is a grave signal to the political elite,” he added.

Technically, Poland and Lithuania, which both joined the EU in 2004, are key allies in the Eastern Partnership, the EU initiative designed to build bridges with non-EU member states such as Armenia, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

However, Polish-Lithuanian relations have soured since 2006, largely over squabbles concerning the Polish minority in the country.

The Polish government has objected to reforms to Lithuania's education laws that made teaching in Lithuanian obligatory in certain subjects, regardless of a given school's status as a minority one.

Likewise, Poland has backed ethnic Poles' efforts to have their names written in their passports in Polish, as opposed to in the Lithuanian transliteration.

In 2012, Lithuania's then foreign minister Audronius Azulis said that his country did not need a "big brother.

“Our government has said clearly: all issues relating to citizens, regardless of whether they relate to minorities, shall be settled by we ourselves.”

In the recent poll, which was conducted by Spinter Tytimai on behalf of the Delfi web site.

Lithuanians emerged as most distrustful as Russia, with 72.5 percent of respondents labelling Russia as a hostile state. Respondents looked favourably however on Latvia, Estonia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. (nh)



Source: IAR