GORZELIK AND OTHERS v. POLAND JUDGMENT 7 under the relevant provisions of the Law on elections to the Sejm[1] of 28 May 1993 [Ordynacja wyborcza do Sejmu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej – 'the 1993 Elections Act'], registration of the Union would give it a privileged position in terms of distribution of seats in Parliament. The Union would obtain rights and privileges guaranteed to national minorities in respect of education in their native language and access to the media. Registration of the association would be to the detriment of other ethnic groups in Poland, such as Cracovians [Krakowiacy], Highlanders [Górale] and Mazurians [Mazurzy]; this would amount to a return to the tribalism [podziały plemienne] which existed prior to the formation of the Polish State. ... (v) We therefore propose that the memorandum of association should be amended so as to reflect the above observations. In particular, the misleading name of the association should be changed, the criteria for membership should be set out in an unambiguous manner and paragraph 30 should be deleted. In our opinion, these are the conditions for registration of the association.” 25. On 13 March 1997 the applicants filed a pleading in reply to those arguments. They asserted that the fact that the majority of Poles failed to recognise the existence of a Silesian nation did not mean that there was no such nation. They cited various scientific publications and went on to explain that the fact that the Silesians formed a distinct group had already been acknowledged at the end of the First World War; moreover, the Silesians had always sought to preserve their identity and had always formed a distinct group, regardless of whether Upper Silesia had belonged to Germany or to Poland. Consequently, any comparison between them and the Cracovians or Highlanders was totally unjustified, because the latter groups neither regarded themselves as national minorities, nor had they ever been perceived as such in the past. Finally, the applicants cited certain letters of the Ministry of the Interior that had been published by the press and which explained that the National and Ethnic Minorities Bill2 had explicitly stated that a “declaration that a person belongs to a minority shall not be questioned or verified by the public authorities”. 26. On 9 April 1997 the Governor of Katowice filed a pleading with the court. He maintained his previous position. On 14 April 1997 he produced two letters from the Ministry of the Interior (dated 4 February and 10 April 1997 respectively, and addressed to the Department of Civic Affairs of the Office of the Governor of Katowice). The relevant parts of the letter of 4 February 1997 read: “We share your doubts as to whether certain inhabitants of Silesia should be deemed to be a national minority. We therefore suggest that you submit your observations to the court, indicating those doubts, and that you ask the court to grant you leave to join the proceedings as a party. 1. The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. 2. Ultimately, that bill was never adopted by Parliament. A new bill on national and ethnic minorities in the Republic of Poland (“the 2002 National and Ethnic Minorities Bill”) was submitted to Parliament on 11 January 2002.