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Poland Baltic States
On numerous occasions after mid-1989, the Polish
government
demonstrated sympathy for the increasingly vocal
Lithuanian
independence movement. After the Lithuanian declaration of
independence in March 1990, a Polish senator was the first
foreign government representative to address the
Lithuanian
parliament. Poland provided important moral support during
the
economic blockade imposed by the Kremlin, and after the
Soviet
military crackdown in Vilnius in January 1991, Poland
joined
Scandinavian nations, the Czech and Slovak Federative
Republic,
and Hungary in calling for a discussion of the action by
the
Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe
(CSCE--see Glossary).
Despite Warsaw's sympathetic actions, Vilnius grew
impatient
at the Poles' unwillingness to grant diplomatic
recognition. At
that time, however, such an action would have jeopardized
negotiations on withdrawal of Soviet troops from Poland--
especially because no major Western power had recognized
Lithuania. Skubiszewski noted that although good relations
with
the Baltics were important to Poland, relations with the
Soviet
Union had immediate strategic significance.
The demise of the Soviet Union transformed Poland's
relationship with Lithuania. As the threat of repression
from
Moscow diminished, Vilnius began to perceive Warsaw as a
likely
source of external pressure. The Lithuanian government
grew
suspicious that Warsaw coveted lost territories in
Lithuania,
where ethnic Poles still resided in heavy concentrations.
From
Poland's perspective, the respect of minority rights for
roughly
260,000 ethnic Poles residing in Lithuania emerged as the
most
important issue in the bilateral relationship.
In 1988 and 1989, relations of the Polish minority in
Lithuania with the Lithuanian government deteriorated with
the
enactment of language laws that discriminated against nonLithuanian speakers. The laws provoked leaders of the
Polish
minority to declare an autonomous Polish national
territorial
district. In response, Vilnius dismissed numerous ethnic
Polish
local officials and placed districts with large Polish
populations under direct parliamentary administration.
Further
contributing to the worsening relations between the two
communities was a citizenship law requiring a loyalty oath
that
the Polish community viewed as oppressive. Relations
reached
their nadir in late 1991 when the Lithuanian defense
minister
called Poland his country's greatest threat. The following
March,
Skubiszewski charged Lithuania with delaying elections to
local
councils in districts with large concentrations of ethnic
Poles.
Early 1992 also brought hopeful developments, however.
The
foreign ministers of the two nations signed a wide-ranging
tenpoint declaration of friendship and neighborly relations
and a
consular convention. In the declaration, each country
renounced
all territorial claims against the other and pledged to
adhere to
European standards in respecting the rights of its
minorities,
including native-language education rights.
Polish relations with the other two Baltic states were
less
complicated. In mid-1992, Skubiszewski visited Latvia to
sign the
first Polish bilateral treaty with any of the newly
independent
Baltic states. He also signed important accords on trade,
travel,
and minority rights. Skubiszewski praised Latvia's
treatment of
its sizable Polish population, which in mid-1992 was
estimated at
between 60,000 and 100,000. Skubiszewski then signed a
similar
treaty in Tallinn, where the Estonian foreign minister
described
relations with Warsaw as excellent. Both Estonia and
Latvia
viewed Poland as a benign neighbor whose experience in
economic
and political reform could facilitate their own transition
and
could promote their integration into Western Europe.
Data as of October 1992
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