"Wait, I haven't committed any crime that would require apology. When you commit an offense against someone or do something as a politician where you feel inside that you have harmed a person or some community... but today, as a politician who votes for and adopts laws or performs other duties, I truly do not see anything I should apologize for," Butkevičius told journalists when asked whether he planned to make any apologies during his visit in Poland on Tuesday.
Last week, Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius, a member of the Butkevičius-led Social Democratic Party, made an apology in an interview to several Polish dailies.
The foreign minister said it was a “big disgrace” when in 2010, the Lithuanian parliament voted down a law that would have allowed original spelling of Polish names in official documents. Poland's then president Lech Kaczynski was visiting Vilnius at the time of the vote.
Butkevičius, who was in parliament at the time, abstained in the vote and did not support the bill which was proposed by then Conservative prime minister Andrius Kubilius.
"I was not a member of the parliament at the time but I'd like to apologize. The ballot shows how complex the matters are," minister Linkevičius said in an interview published by the Rzecpospolita daily last Thursday.
The apology sparked varied responses in Lithuania and criticism from opposition Conservatives.
During meetings with Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw later on Thursday, Butkevičius should address power links and gas pipelines.
