During the 1917 Vilnius Conference he stated his primary goal as "An independent Lithuania within ethnic Lithuanian lands". In September 1917 Narutowicz joined the Council of Lithuania ("Lietuvos Taryba"), a Lithuanian governing body established by the Germans as part of their "Mitteleuropa" plan, yet largely independent and striving for establishment of Lithuania as an independent state. As a member of that body, Narutowicz became one of twenty signatories of the Act of Independence of Lithuania. However, following the conflicts within the Taryba he took a more anti-German stance than most of his colleagues. After the body asked "the government of Germany for protection and help" and vowed for a "stable and strong alliance with the German Reich", Narutowicz protested. When, on 26 January 1918, 12 of the Taryba's members voted for compromise with Germany, Narutowicz and three of his social-democratic colleagues (Steponas Kairys, Jonas Vileišis and Mykolas Biržiška) resigned their posts. Lithuania and Poland came into increasing intense conflicts in the years that followed. Narutowicz continued to actively support a rapprochement but met with little success.