An EFA delegation delivers letter to the Permanent Representative of Poland in the EU.

EFA President Francois Alfonsi and EFA Vice Presidents Natalia Pinkowska (Ruch Autonomii Slonska), Lorena Lopez De Lacalle (Eusko Alkartasuna) and Anders Eriksson (Alands Framtid) handed earlier today a protest letter to the Head of the Polish permanent representation to the EU raising for yet another time the serious concerns EFA has about the current situation of minorities in Poland.

Poland continues to ignore the results of the 2012 national census as well as the petition signed by more that 140.000 people and stubbornly refuses to include Silesians into the list of recognized national minorities. Moreover, it breaches its own as well as international laws concerning ethnic minorities by forcibly changing the administrative borders of municipalities they reside without any prior consultation and with the sole goal to change the demographic picture of whole regions.

EFA will continue the dialogue with the Polish authorities trying to convince them that respect of minority rights and autonomy are a common European reality, from which everyone can benefit. The upcoming EFA General Assembly (March 31st-April 1st) in the Silesian capital Katowice will serve exactly this purpose.