Longin Pastusiak - The Senate and the Polish Diaspora

Longin Pastusiak - The Senate and the Polish Diaspora:



"The Polish diaspora is hard to pin down statistically. Estimates of its size vary according to the criteria chosen.1 The number of Poles and people with Polish roots living outside the borders of Poland is thought to be between 10 and 17 million.



In the first half of the 20th century the term "Polonia" was coined.2 This Latin word became a portmanteau designation - comprehensive but also pleasing to the ear - for Poles and their descendants living outside the homeland. However, it does not fit the situation of those Poles who without leaving their native land and homes found themselves living in another country, for instance in Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine or Romania. Accordingly, in order to include the whole of the Polish diaspora, the term "trans-border Poles" has to be added to Polonia.



The first bureaux set up after the recovery of independence in 1918 to deal with diaspora affairs were organised within the Ministry of Labour and Welfare or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.3"

[..]

"Poland needs a strong lobby as was confirmed and paid off during its bid for NATO membership, while the priority now is facilitation of Poland's accession to the European Union. The Senate has welcomed with true satisfaction the moves towards integration of Polonia communities in the world and will support these. The diaspora's relations with the homeland should not be shaped by sympathy or antipathy for the current political grouping in power. We in Poland hold all Poles, regardless of their and our views, their and our sympathies, equally dear."

[..]

"Another parliamentary body dealing with the affairs of Polish communities abroad is the Sejm Committee for Liaison with Poles Abroad. Its area of interest covers matters relating to the links with Poland of persons of Polish extraction permanently or temporarily resident abroad.17 It considers current concerns of the diaspora itself and Polish foreign policy towards the countries in which these communities live."