Polish Consulate...

Baghdad, Camp Babylon, Warsaw, Oct. 28: A little-known radical Iraqi grouping said it kidnapped a Polish woman working for "American forces" and demanded from Poland the withdrawal of its soldiers from Iraq, Qatar TV Al-Jazeera reported. President Aleksander Kwasniewski said that Poland would not pullout troops from Iraq as it would be tantamount to yielding to a dictate of terrorists. PM Marek Belka stated that there was no way Poland would negotiate troops pullout or any other question. PM Marek Belka said the identity of the woman was established but refused to disclose her name. Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said the woman had been living in Iraq for decades and was employed by the Polish Embassy at the beginning of the 1990-ties. Cimoszewicz asked the Polish embassy to get in touch with Polish women married to Iraqis to persuade them to leave the country. Also Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski stressed that the Polish government will not deal with terrorists' requests and added all measures aimed at freeing the abducted Pole had been undertaken. Chief of the Military Information Services General Marek Dukaczewski told that the kidnapped woman did not belonged to the Polish contingent. Al-Jazeera footage showed an elderly woman in a pink blouse sitting between two masked men. One of them had a gun pointed at her. In the background viewers could see a black banner with the name: Abu Baqr al-Siddik al-Salafyia Brigades. According to Al-Jazeera, the woman, whose voice was inaudible demanded the withdrawal of Polish soldiers from Iraq and the freeing of all women from Abu Ghraib prison from the U.S. authorities. Poland has been in command of the Multinational Centre-South Division in Iraq where some 2,500 soldiers are posted including 309 women who work as doctors, translators, nurses and archaeologists. The Polish woman is the 9th foreigner abducted in Iraq.

Leuven, Oct. 28: We have to do everything to encourage EU citizens to approve the Constitutional Treaty, President Aleksander Kwasniewski said while delivering a lecture at the Catholic University of Leuven. Heads of 25 EU countries will sign the Constitutional Treaty. It is supposed to take effect in 2007, but to take effect, the constitution must be ratified by the legislatures of all EU states in 2005 and 2006. So far Poland, Spain and Great Britain have declared that they plan to put the constitution to a referendum. We must unite our efforts to reach public opinion. A wise compromise adopted in the Treaty should be understood as a significant value, the Polish president said. According to President Kwasniewski, the EU Constitution is not the end of the integration as the EU still requires new initiatives, including cooperation in internal issues as well as foreign and common security policy. The Polish president said that the EU was also facing another challenge and stressed it was an open and active policy towards Ukraine. President Kwasniewski appealed to Europe not to be indifferent when Russia was trying to attract Ukraine but to build bridges of cooperation with that country. This would have a favourable influence on the consolidation of democracy and the rule of law in Ukraine, he added. Next President Kwasniewski said Europe should not forget such countries as Belarus and stressed the EU countries should see the difference between the Belarussian authorities and Belarussian people.

Warsaw, Oct. 28: PM Marek Belka and Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz will take part in a ceremony of signing the Constitutional Treaty of the EU in Rome. "The signing ceremony of the Treaty is only a stage in a long and complicated process. Just after the signing member-states will start a ratification procedure," deputy Foreign Minister Jan Truszczynski said. He stressed that the signing the treaty crowned Europe's few-year work. According to Truszczynski the treaty will give the EU a better basis for its operations, boost democracy at European level and will guarantee better citizens' rights protection in entire EU." Truszczynski added that Poland will launch a treaty-promoting campaign by the end of the year. Currently the government is working on organisation guidelines and messages that are going to be conveyed to Poles. According to deputy foreign minister, Poland can hold the ratification referendum either in the autumn of 2005, together with presidential elections or in the spring of 2006, together with elections to local governments. But the final decision on the date will depend on the parliament, he said. The PM will be received at an audience by Pope John Paul II. Later he is expected to meet the Holy See's secretary of state Cardinal Angelo Sodano.

Warsaw, Oct. 28: PM Marek Belka told Poles who would monitor presidential elections in Ukraine that the elections would be crucial for Ukraine's future. The PM underlined that if elections are held according to democratic standards Ukraine may become closer to Europe than it has ever been. The violation of democratic principles would put an end to Ukraine's drive to Europe. Polish observers will take part in a Visegrad group mission jointly with Chechs, Slovaks and Hungarians. The PM also said he believed there would be no attempts to falsify elections. Visegrad group observers will go as part of OSCE mission for monitoring presidential elections in Ukraine.

Warsaw, Oct. 28: Deputy Foreign Minister Jan Truszczynski expects PM Marek Belka and Chancellor Schroeder to issue a communique on appointment of coordinators for cooperation between the two countries in conclusion of the 7th Polish-German intergovernmental consultations to be held in Cracow on November 4. The office of coordinator will be created in both countries' foreign ministries. Coordinators are to be "known personages" with access to the authorities and media. Truszczynski told that coordinators are to act in favour of rapprochement and reconciliation between the two countries, improvement of the state of mutual knowledge of the two nations and removal of stereotypes and prejudices. According to Truszczynski, Belka and Schroeder in Cracow are to discuss restitution problems and preparations for a Polish Year in Germany and a German Year in Poland, as well as some changes in the status of the Viadrina European University in Frankfurt an der Oder. Belka and Schroeder would also discuss the state of negotiations on the EU budget, problems related to Belarus, the situation in Ukraine, elections in the USA and the UN reforms. The consultations in Cracow will be attended by ministers for foreign and home affairs and many others, who will set up tasks for Polish-German cooperation in next year.

Warsawe, oct. 28: MEPs from the rightwing League of Polish Families (LPR) have appealed to PM Marek Belka to recall EU Commissioner Danuta Huebner, whom they accuse of "acting against Poland's interests", MEP and LPR member Maciej Giertych told. In the appeal Giertych criticized Huebner for backing agricultural market reforms in the EC and her opposition against the Polish government's protests against low farmer subsidies to the European Tribunal of Justice. According to Giertych now was a good time to recall Huebner as the EC was in a legal stalemate over its next lineup. We appeal to the PM to take advantage of the legal mess in the Commission and withdraw Danuta Huebner's recommendation as EU Commissioner.

Warsaw, Oct. 28: Representatives of states members of the international anti-terrorist coalition concluded a two-day working conference, the defence ministry announced in a communique. The meeting was devoted to strategic planning, the role of the coalition in Afghanistan and in Iraq and to the working out of joint solutions increasing international security. Participants in the meeting also discussed regional policy and the state of security in Iraq and Afghanistan. The conference was attended by 58 national representations and 6 delegations of international organizations, including NATO and the OSCE.

Bialystok, Oct. 28: The book on the history of Polish bisons of the Bialowieza forest has been published in Poland. Titled "Zubr - monografia przyrodnicza" (A Monograph on the Polish Bison) the book is the result of 43 years of studies conducted by scientists, Dr. Zbigniew Krasinski and his wife Malgorzata, devoted to the 50 years of the bisons living in this primeval forest in eastern Poland. The book is the first and only detailed and documented publication containing complete information about bisons, the genetics of the species, its habitat, diseases, and the bison's way of life, published in Poland since 1927, Dr. Krasinski of the Bialowieza National Park told. The book received an award of the Minister of Environment. The publication of the book coincided with "The Year of the Bison" declared in the Bialowieza National Park in 2004 because this year marks the 75th anniversary of the restitution of the animal in Europe and saving the species from extinction. The Krasinskis have conducted studies on the bisons of Bialowieza since 1961, when only 44 wild bisons lived at liberty in Bialowieza and the knowledge of the species was very limited. At present there are about 3,000 bisons in the world. Over 600 of them live in Bialowieza, of which 350 on the Polish side of the forest and the remaining in its Belarussian part.

Warsaw, Oct. 28: Exhibitions "Polish Avantgarde Yesterday and Today" and "Attitudes" presenting works of contemporary Polish artists will be on show in France within the framework of the Nova Polska Season underway in that country. The first of the exhibitions featuring works of Polish constructivists and the post-war art drawing on the traditions of constructivism will be open in the castle at Mouans-Sartoux near Nice. The exhibits, including paintings by pioneers of avantgarde and leading artists of the Polish constructivism Henryk Stazewski and Wladyslaw Strzeminski come from the Museum of Art in Lodz. The exhibition "Attitudes" to be open in Ivry near Paris will feature sculptures, photography and painting by 11 Polish artists working in France, among them Jozef Bury, Zbigniew Dlubak, Bogdan Konopka and Ludwik Ogorzelec who have already become known in Japan, the USA, Venezuela, Switzerland.

Warsaw, Oct. 28: According to 32 percent of Poles Polish-German relations have improved recently and the same number of respondents believe that they have deteriorated. Twenty seven percent say they have not changed and 9 percent do not have any opinion on the matter, according to a CBOS poll. Sixty two percent believe that reconciliation between Germans and Poles is possible (down by 7 percentage points from May 2004), 30 percent do not believe this (up 2 percentage points) and 8 percent do not have any opinion on the matter (up 5 percentage points). In the opinion of 37 Poles the Sejm resolution on war reparations will not discourage Germans to forward financial claims against Poland while 36 percent claim the opposite. In early September the Sejm adopted a resolution in which it stressed Poland had not received war reparations from Germany so far and called on the Polish government to start appropriate moves concerning this issue. It also stressed that all financial claims of German citizens were groundless and illegal. Thirty eight percent say that the government decision not to demand war reparations from Germany was proper if at the same time any financial claims of Germans were blocked. 35 percent think that this decision was not right and only 14 percent say it was proper without any reservations. CBOS ran the poll from October 1 to 4 on a representative sample of 988 adult Poles.

posted by: Oborski at 01:39 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 01:35 | link | comments |

Today we placed candles and flowers on Polish Airforce Graves at Dodington in Shropshire. See photos here!

posted by: Oborski at 18:31 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 12:14 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 11:02 | link | comments |

From Warsaw Voice

"I whistle the classical way, not with my fingers, because it's hooligans who whistle this way. My wife can whistle with her fingers, which leads me to believe that she was a hooligan as a child."
-Civic Platform (PO) leader Jan Rokita on his musical talents

"Democracy and freedom are the best solutions to all problems, but maybe not everywhere in the world."
-Polish President Aleksander Kwaśniewski during a working visit to Russia

"Madame deputy, let's assume that for a moment you are serious, that you are a serious person-I'm adopting this working hypothesis."
-Deputy Prime Minister Jerzy Hausner in a parliamentary argument with Zyta Gilowska from the opposition PO over the guidelines of the government's budget bill

"Unfortunately, it turned out the representatives of the nation are extraordinarily stingy. A similar total was noted, for example, in a junior high school in a poor Lower Silesian village suffering from unemployment."
-Organizer of a fundraising drive in the Polish Sejm for the children from Beslan; it turned out the 460 deputies had donated a total of some zl.1,400, or an average of zl.3 per person; the deputies' salaries are around zl.11,000 a month.

posted by: Oborski at 22:39 | link | comments |

A Fragile Reconciliation

By Sławomir Majman in Warsaw Voice

Clouds are gathering over Polish-German reconciliation.
A few weeks ago the Sejm was unanimous in passing a resolution calling on the Polish government to negotiate reparations for war losses from Germany, and on the German government—to recognize as groundless the property claims of those exiled from what today are Poland’s western regions. The two main rightist parties, Law and Justice (PiS) and the League of Polish Families (LPR), which will most probably form the new Polish government in a few months’ time, went even further in their anti-German rhetoric. Meanwhile, the local governments of Warsaw and Poznań carefully calculated the losses that their cities suffered due to the Germans.

The German reactions showed that Germany is still rife with anti-Polish prejudice. Politicians and the media on the Rhine and the Spree received the Polish campaign with anger and disbelief. “Are Szczecin, Wrocław and Gdańsk not enough?” asked Bild, while SPD Chairman Franz Müntefining immediately noticed an “element of provocation” in the Polish demands, and together with many other politicians reproached Poland for its ungratefulness for the assistance received from Germany during European Union accession.

Only very few people in Germany admit the present storm results from the provocative demands of the Prussian Trust and the German government’s ambiguous policy.

What happened? Polish deputies and senators, irritated at the growing German impertinence towards Poland, passed a resolution demanding payment of once-abandoned reparations. Though the Polish government refuses to recognize the Sejm resolution and considers the matter of compensation to be closed, in the current atmosphere of patriotic exultation few Polish politicians are able to resist fueling a fire that scores them points with the voters.

For the first time since the official proclamation of reconciliation with the Germans, on the eve of the transformation, dislike of the Germans in Poland is growing—also among the younger generation.

The Polish emotions may be exaggerated, but they were fired by a quite recent about-face in Germany: the Germans are less and less ashamed of the war.

■ The aim of the Sejm resolution and the speeches of most sensible Polish politicians is not to obtain compensation, but to oppose the constant aggression of influential German associations of the exiled, and to remind Germans of the historical truth.

In Germany there is no shame anymore about speaking loudly of the Germans as victims of World War II, Germans chased from their homes, Germans doomed to starvation, suffering and adversity through the cruelty of Poles, Russians and Czechs. There is so little shame that the descendants of the people exiled after the war from lands the Allies took from the Germans have started loudly demanding compensation, also from the Poles. A mental equalization of victims has occurred: victims of Nazism and victims of Slav violence.

It’s true that a few thousand Germans were killed during wild displacements from Czech territory, in a reaction of revenge. It’s true that people died in Polish camps for Germans, most of them at the hands of those Poles whose whole families had been murdered during the war, and it’s true that in the beginning postwar chaos cause the exiled to suffer from cold and hunger. Nobody can forbid the Germans to mourn their dead or sympathize with the humiliated, even if they deserved such a fate.

But what is the historical truth about where the German exiled came from? Due to the deep, fanatical and universal support that Hitler enjoyed up to his final moments, the German nation was considered collectively responsible for the crimes of the Third Reich. The exiled appeared because the Germans, forced by nobody, had given power to Hitler, then started the most horrible war in human history, committed heinous crimes during their diabolical occupation of Europe, never ceasing in their orgiastic enthusiasm for their Führer.

It’s impossible to defend the view that only Hitler and a gang of degenerates were accountable for German crimes, and everyone else—the fathers and grandfathers of today’s Federal Republic citizens—put on uniforms because they had to, because it was obligatory, and for that the poor German nation became the victim of the barbarous Slavs. Those responsible for that criminal war were not some abstract Nazis, but Germans who became Nazis or wholeheartedly supported them, and for that the German nation deserves punishment a hundredfold. Even displacement.

If some German government wishes to pay compensation to the descendants of the exiled—well and good. But to demand money from a country that was the Germans’ victim, and then being surprised that this arouses indignation in Poland—even if it was excessively emotional—is unimaginably insolent.

I don’t mind when former inhabitants of Silesia and Pomerania are moved when they hear Agnes Miegel’s poem “There was such a land,” saturated with the pain of exile. I am just as moved as a German reader after reading Günter Grass’ Crabwalk—the story of the German ship carrying refugees from the Baltic coast that was sunk by a Russian torpedo.

However, I refuse to equalize the fate of a German woman chased from her home in the middle of a frosty night with the fate of a Polish woman tortured to death on Szucha Avenue, the Warsaw Gestapo headquarters. It may sound brutal, but the Poles and the Germans suffered differently. A Pole mangled by the German machinery of terror, which was created for the intentional and consistent annihilation of a whole nation, suffered in one way. A German punished for the hecatomb brought about by the German nation suffered differently.

If the Poles really wanted to settle accounts for their suffering, the burden of the German debt would be overwhelming—morally and materially. That is the message being sent to Germany from Warsaw.

Reconciliation between Poles and Germans is still a delicate plant harmed by the slightest jolt.
The 60 years that have passed since the war are not much on a historical scale, especially when one takes the magnitude of the German blame into account.

Some kindly enthusiasts in Poland thought that the liturgy of reconciliation, practiced devoutly for the past 15 years, would erase the searing brand of the past. The current storm has shown the weakness of the soil in which this reconciliation is anchored, and how carefully it needs to be treated. And reconciliation is not served by Polish politicians being told off by local troubadours of reconciliation for their alleged maniacal psychosis and hysterical spectacles.

The Polish president and government are distancing themselves from the parliamentarians’ and local governments’ actions.

And rightly so. In the climate of the approaching elections, the Sejm’s campaign reminding the Germans of the truth about the past will easily turn into playing on nationalist, anti-German sentiments. At least if the right gets down to work.

The generational replacement in Germany is the backdrop for the present Polish-German crisis. Both the political elite and the majority of Germans no longer see themselves as a society of perpetrators. Chancellor Schröder’s generation is the first at the helm that feels no direct qualms of conscience for the war.

However, one cannot ignore the mistakes and neglect that led to today’s storm.
It turned out that the Poles have become irritated by the uncritical eulogies of enthusiasts looking at any cost towards the pluses of reconciliation and inadvertently speaking in Polish with a German voice. The complete success of reconciliation was hailed too soon, and mutual resentment waved away, which had to cause a counter-reaction sooner or later.

The tactics of successive federal governments in Germany turned out to be naïve, as they counted that millions of displaced Germans would slowly die out and the problem would solve itself. In fact the noisiest and most demanding group are not those exiled straight after the war, but Silesians and Masurians who left Poland 20 or 30 years ago, more in search of a better life than due to any suddenly awakened German consciousness.

Despite the official compliments, the German attitude to Poland is more and more annoying, with its barely concealed disparagement of an economically and political weak neighbor.

The storm surrounding reparations should demonstrate to the elites of both countries that it’s not enough to place a tick next to “reconciliation” in intergovernmental documents and glossy magazines.

For tea to be sweeter, it’s not enough for even the noblest of souls to pray for it. You need to stir the sugar in long and patiently.ians who left Poland 20 or 30 years ago, more in search of a better life than due to any suddenly awakened German consciousness.

Despite the official compliments, the German attitude to Poland is more and more annoying, with its barely concealed disparagement of an economically and political weak neighbor.

The storm surrounding reparations should demonstrate to the elites of both countries that it’s not enough to place a tick next to “reconciliation” in intergovernmental documents and glossy magazines.

For tea to be sweeter, it’s not enough for even the noblest of souls to pray for it. You need to stir the sugar in long and patiently.

posted by: Oborski at 22:35 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 20:03 | link | comments |

Absentee voters

Letter from Poland
By Peter Gentle

The whole world will be waiting for the result of the presidential elections in the United States on November 2. But how would Planet Earth, and, more particularly, Poland vote if it had the chance?

When I was very young, I remember being with my dad when he was watching the evening news. Apropos to nothing in particular, my dad suddenly said: “When America sneezes everyone else catches a cold.”

I was only about five years old at the time, so the significance of what my dad had just said positively boggled my young mind. For years afterwards, if I saw someone sneezing in the street I assumed that they were an American – and immediately starting pestering my parents for a day off school.

What my dad meant, I now know of course, was that if something happens to America, it will have consequences everywhere else. And I reckon my old dad is right. That’s why everyone is so interested in this year’s US Presidential Elections in a way that they never have been before.

So it’s a shame that we, who do not live in America, can’t vote this time. But how would we if we could?

An opnion poll taken in 23 European countries in the first week of October asked people just that. The results won’t surprise many. A majority in 22 of the countries asked said that they would vote for the challenger, Senator Kerry.

The only country to muster a majority for the incumbent was Poland.

Actually, George W. Bush’s lead in Poland is very small. Twenty-eight percent said they would vote Republican, while 25% said they would vote John Kerry.

Though the lead is small here, it still is a lead. So what makes Poland different from other countries in Europe?

The usual explanation trotted out to such a question is one of history. The US lead the fight against the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Poles trusted the direct American approach better than they did the less direct ‘realpolitik’ of the Europeans. Since the Iron Curtain fell, Polish politicians of all persuasions have nailed their colors to the mast and supported America as the best way of safeguarding Poland’s national security.

But John Kerry didn’t help himself either when he made what is commonly referred to as ‘a gaff’ in one of the presidential debates. Kerry was criticizing Bush’s unilateralism and lack of international support for the war in Iraq. He said that Bush’s much proclaimed international coalition during the initial invasion consisted of only, “Britain and Australia.”

Bush immediately bit back by saying that, “President Kwasniewski of Poland will be surprised to hear that,” referring to the fact that Poland has 2,500 troops in Iraq and actually controls the south-central region of that war torn country. After he made his gaff, you could see Kerry’s eyes glaze over for a second and then his foot move slowly towards his mouth.

Ooops.

Indeed, President Kwasnieswski was not impressed with John Kerry’s remark. The day after the debate he said that, “ I feel that it is sad that a senator of 20 years parliamentary experience is unable to notice the Polish presence in the anti-terror coalition.”

By the way - Poland has been the subject of gaffs by presidential hopefuls before. In the 1975 campaign, the non-elected incumbent, Gerald Ford, had a clear lead over his Democratic opponent, Jimmy Carter. And then during the televised debate Ford made a remark that seemed to suggest that he thought that Poland was not dominated by the Soviet Union, was not behind the Iron Curtain at all, and that the people of Poland were, “free.”

Ooops.

After that remark Ford’s lead in the polls started to slip and he finally lost the election to the peanut farmer from Georgia.

Another gaff five years later involved Jimmy Carter during his battle with Ronald Regan, but it wasn’t really his fault. During a press conference, Carter mentioned America’s “love for Polish people.” Unfortunately, an inept Polish interpreter translated his remark here as,” America’s lust for the Polish people.”

Oops again.

So, Bush’s support in Poland is not surprising if we take into account Poland’s historical American loyalty, plus Kerry’s gaff factor.

But the support for Bush is surprising if we take into account the hostility here to the war in Iraq. In recent opinion polls, around 70% of Poles regret Poland’s involvement and think that their troops should come home, right now. And opposition to the war from Polish politicians is growing and becoming more organized.

Since the beginning of hostilities, 17 Poles have lost their lives in Iraq.

President Kwasniewski has voiced his disappointment over the lack of reconstruction contracts coming Poland’s way. At the beginning of September these amounted to only 70 million dollars, the majority of which are in the housing sector.

One of the parties that make up the ruling coalition - the Labour Union - is currently pushing the government to announce a definite date for the withdrawal of troops. The Labour Union favour a time limit of no more than six months. Even members of the cabinet are joining in. On October 3, Defense Minister, Jerzy Smajdzinski voiced his opinion that Polish troops should withdraw when the current United Nations mandate runs out at the end of 2005.

But another matter has angered many here. Poles are still required to apply for visas before entering the United States, as part of a general crackdown on security in the US after 9/11. Lech Welesa, no less, has led the campaign to get this restriction lifted, as a way of saying thank you to Poland for its support for Bush’s ‘war on terror’.

So Poles have complicated feelings towards the US elections and who to support. And this is why Kerry and Bush are just about neck-and-neck in the opinion polls here. Poles, like everyone else, will be on the edge of their seats when the results are announced early on November 3. Or will they? It looks very possible that, like the election of 2000, the result may well be decided, not at the ballot box, but in the law courts.

posted by: Oborski at 21:21 | link | comments |

Kuchma's visit called off because of situation in Ukraine

Warsaw, Oct. 25: Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has called off a working visit to Poland because of the internal situation in Ukraine before the forthcoming presidential election, Minister of the Presidential Chancellery Dariusz Szymczycha told. The minister added that the visit would probably take place after the election, scheduled for October 31. Kuchma's visit was to be paid on his own initiative. He was to meet with President Aleksander Kwasniewski to discuss Ukraine's presidential elections. It was also planned as a farewell visit as Kuchma is nearing the end of his second presidential term. Kuchma and Kwasniewski were also scheduled for a joint press conference.

Warsaw, Oct. 25: President Aleksander Kwasniewski will leave for a three-day official visit to the Kingdom of Belgium. The planned talks are to focus on European and economic issues. During the stay in Belgium, the presidential couple will meet with King of the Belgians Albert II and Queen Paola and with PM Guy Verhofstadt. The president and the Belgian PM will discuss European issues, including the EU Constitutional Treaty, the opening of the Belgian labour market to Poles, the Lisbon strategy as well as economic issues, investments and trade. The president will also attend a Polish-Belgian economic forum together with a group of 18 Polish businessmen. Belgium is Poland's seventh economic partner among the EU countries. Belgian investments in Poland have totalled around 3 bn USD giving Belgium the tenth place among the biggest foreign investors. The Polish president will visit Brussels, Liege in the Walloon region and the Flemish Barbant where he will meet with governors of the provinces and town mayors. The presidential couple will also meet with Poles living in Belgium. The Belgian royal couple visited Poland in 1999.

Warsaw, Oct. 25: I am grateful to Poland for seeking to play the role of a bridge between America and Europe during these difficult times and for still believing in our common values, U.S. Presidential candidate John Kerry said in an interview for Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza and Nowy Dziennik published in the U.S. According to Kerry, America must give its allies a large role in stabilising Iraq. The best way to do this is by linking their interests with a peaceful future for Iraq. In economic matters, this would entail giving our tested friends, such as Poland, a share of multi-billion dollar reconstruction contracts, he stressed. Asked about his promise concerning moves designed to eliminate visas for Poles Kerry said that this was a bold idea and he realised it could run into serious bureaucratic and legal barriers. But the NATO enlargement to include Poland and other Central European countries was also a bold plan that required much effort and time. And this is a fact that visa regulations for Poles are obsolete and that they reflect neither the strategic relations between Poland and the U.S nor the tradition of close links between our people. If we cooperate with each other we will surely achieve this goal, he said.

Diwaniyah, Oct. 25: Governor of Iraq's Diwaniyah province Jamal Khadum Husoney assured commander of the Multinational Division General Andrzej Ekiert that Diwaniyah is a safe city. By mid-December the division is to move south of Camp Babylon to Camp Echo, a U.S. marines base near the city of Diwaniyah, the capital of Kadisiyah province. "This region has traditionally been against Saddam Hussein," the Iraqi official told. Province authorities count on the Multinational Division assistance in maintaining regular electricity and potable water supplies as well as the reconstruction of the sewage system and the construction of roads. Ekiert explained that concrete projects are presented by local authorities and implemented by local firms so as to prevent Baghdad from snatching better contracts. Most of Civilian and Military Cooperation (CIMIC) section has already moved over there and established contact with local authorities. CIMIC is to take over from the Americans some 150 projects aimed at ensuring stabilisation in the province. According Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski, who has recently visited Echo, the base is much safer than Camp Babylon; the area is smaller and surrounded by 3.5 meter high concrete blocks. The base also has a camera-monitoring system. Transferred to Echo base will be 2,000 Polish soldiers and civilian workers and more than 1,000 Polish and Bulgarian soldiers from bases near Karbala. They will leave a Polish field hospital as its transfer would take too much time. The move implies that the division will take over responsibility for Kadisiyah province from the Americans, who will take over Karbala province.

Warsaw, Oct. 25: Poland has been discussing a future EU budget practically with all EU states but so far no quotas have been mentioned, Minister for European Affairs Jaroslaw Pietras told. Pietras denied Rzeczpospolita daily allegations about Poland holding secret negotiations on the EU financial prospect for 2005- 2013 with France, Germany, Spain and Great Britain. However, he admitted that the EU budget had been discussed on numerous occasions including a meeting of the Weimar Triangle countries. However, according to Pietras, Germany, France, Spain, Great Britain and Italy as well as Visegrad Group states are important partners in talks as they have clearly defined interests in the EU future financial prospects and equally clearly defined problems. He assured that in negotiations on the EU budget Poland would change its positions as regards the modernisation of the economy, namely structural funds, the cohesion fund, welfare fund and means for agriculture.

Luxembourg, Oct. 25: Interior Minister Ryszard Kalisz told that Poland did not support the formation of a special force protecting EU external borders though he had motioned for assigning funds for the protection of the EU external borders in the budget for 2007-2013. Kalisz argued that Polish borders are well-protected by its own border guards and the demand had been put forward by countries that lacked external borders. He was addressing reporters during a break in a two-day debate of the council of justice and interior ministers devoted to a five- year programme aimed at the introduction of a common asylum and immigration policy and improve cooperation in judiciary and internal affairs. As regards a European Asylum-granting Office the EC proposed 2010 as a date of setting up. According to Kalisz it was still too soon to speak about dates. In this respect Poland shared the view of Great Britain and not Germany, that would like to see the office operating as of 2010. In his speech the minister underlined the need for working out uniform standards for the protection of the EU external borders by the Common Unit of External Borders Practitioners. He stressed he would like to see the organisation hq. placed in Poland. The minister emphasised that there was a common consent for cooperation with third countries as regards immigration.

Katowice, Oct. 25: There should be about 400,000 less unemployed in Poland next year, bringing the country's unemployment rate down to 17 percent from the present 19, deputy PM and economy minister Jerzy Hausner told. According to the minister this year's unemployment should remain below 3 million with employment on last year's level. Hausner said consistent support of enterprise and strivings to expand the labour market could push unemployment down to under 10 percent around 2008.

Warsaw, Oct. 25: Voices for restoring the death penalty in Poland are only populistic moves designed to soften voters before the elections, justice minister Andrzej Kalwas said. Kalwas, attending a juristic ceremony in Warsaw, told a return to the death penalty would run against international conventions signed by Poland and "compromise Poland in the eyes of Europe and the world". Earlier today the Law and Justice Party (PiS) appealed for restoration of the death sentence and life imprisonment without parole. He also referred to the U.S., where abolishment of the death penalty resulted in higher and its reinstitution in lower crime rates. According to a CBOS survey 75 percent of Poles support the death penalty.

Gdansk, Oct. 25: EU-enlargement-connected tasks for European customs services are the main subject of a two-day meeting of the European Customs Union started in Gdansk. Attending the meeting are customs officials from 25 EU countries, including EC Director General of Tax and Customs Robert Verrue. Also debated will be new work regulations for customs officers, with special attention to the security aspects of border control. Polish head of customs Wieslaw Czyzowicz pointed to the importance of goods monitoring and stressed that the full employment of customs services in controlling border-crossing cargo would considerably raise global safety. Czyzowicz was backed by Polish finance minister Miroslaw Gronicki, who reminded that customs services in Poland were "one of the crucial formations in anti-terrorist protection". Gronicki also pointed out that over 40 percent of Poland's budget income came from import taxes, excise and VAT collected by customs services.

Warsaw, Oct. 25: The Freedom Union (UW) appealed to the European Parliament and Europe's democracies to pay special attention to the situation in Ukraine pending the country's October 31 presidential elections. UW also moved for an EP debate on Ukraine. We are observing the election campaign in Ukraine with rising concern. According to our information it is taking place in violation of basic democratic standards. Ukraine's democracy needs our backing. Its defeat will be a defeat for us all, UW wrote in its appeal. According to UW most worrying in the Ukrainian campaign are "stubborn attempts to (...) keep the opposition away from the media and voters and the presentation of opposition groups as terrorists". The appeal's authors also pointed to the Russian government's interference in the elections. As in Belarus, Russia (...) is trying to bend independent Ukraine to its ends, they wrote.

Warsaw, Oct. 25: The Citizens' Platform (PO) with 27 percent of votes (down 3 percentage points) would win parliamentary elections if the ballot was held in early October, according to a recent poll run by Pentor. It would be followed by and the Law and Justice (PiS) supported by 14 percent of Poles (down 1 percentage point), the League of Polish Families by 13 percent each (down 1 percentage point) and Samoobrona that would get a 12-percent support (unchanged from September). Next came the coalition of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) and the Union of Labour (UP) that could count on 10 percent of votes (unchanged), the Social Democracy of Poland (SdPl) and the Polish Peasant Party (PSL) supported by 5 percent of Poles each. The Freedom Union (UW) with 4 percent would not win seats in the Sejm.

posted by: Oborski at 21:17 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 14:44 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 19:57 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 23:29 | link | comments |

Warsaw, Oct. 21: Former Czech president Vaclav Havel received a diploma of Warsaw University (UW) honorary doctorate in a ceremony on Thursday. Personages gathered at UW Auditorium Maximum greeted the outstanding guest with a standing ovation. Present were President Aleksander Kwasniewski and other representatives of the Polish political scene. In his speech Havel recalled that Warsaw University was a centre of opposition against totalitarianism, violence and lies of the communist regime. He warmly greeted former democratic opposition leader Adam Michnik as his long-time friend. President Kwasniewski stressed it was an honour for Warsaw and Poland to thank Havel for what he had done "for the Czechs, for Poland, for Europe and the world, for democracy and humanity." On Friday Havel will be guest of Warsaw festival of "Closely Watched Films" devoted to the Czech and Slovak New Wave cinema. He will spend two days in Poland.

Rome, Oct. 21: Pope John Paul II will receive Prime Minister Marek Belka and Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz in audience on October 30, the Polish embassy in Rome said Thursday. On October 29 Belka and Cimoszewicz will take part in the ceremony of signing the European Constitution, to be attended by heads of state and governments of 25 EU member states in Rome. This will be Prime Minister Belka's first visit to the Vatican and the pope's first meeting with representatives of the Polish authorities in the 27th year of his pontificate. Experts on the Vatican affairs speculate whether on this occasion the Polish PM would invite John Paul II to Poland.

Warsaw, Gliwice, Oct. 21: A special Sejm subcommittee will deal with a Sejm draft resolution, submitted by the League of Polish Families LPR, on declaring void the Polish government declaration of 23 August, 1953, which said Poland resigned from war reparations. On the LPR initiative, the subcommittee was set up by the Sejm’s foreign affair committee. Prime Minister Marek Belka said Thursday that "LPR's presence at Poland's political stage was based on the following method: make harm wherever possible and as painful as possible." "But this time I notice the Sejm has sobered up: there have been statements from other right-wing political parties distancing themselves from this LPR concept," he told newsmen in Gliwice Thursday. He was referring to PiS. LPR leaders want the Sejm to declare the 1953 declaration void, arguing it had been adopted under Soviet Union's pressure by a government that was imposed on Poland by a foreign power. Moreover, the declaration was signed one day after an agreement signed in Moscow by the USSR and the GDR. As such, it was not in the slightest degree an expression of sovereign will of the Polish nation and must not be binding for the present Polish state, the LPR claims.

Gliwice, Oct.21: It is the objective of Poland's economic policy to join the euro zone, but "not at all costs and at breakneck speed," prime minister Marek Belka said at a press conference Thursday. "It is an objective that should crown Poland's economic reforms and its achieving a high level of development," he explained. "Of course we would like this to happen as soon as possible." Commenting the reports published by the EU Commission and the ECB on Wednesday, Belka said that they did not take into account the actions that were taken in Poland over the past few months: "a marked progress on the road towards reducing the budget deficit that will materialize next year." The opinions presented in the reports also resulted from "the preliminary decision by Eurostat" on the interpretation of OFE pension fund assets, Belka went on. "As an economist I deeply disagree with the decision (..) Not being a statistician I have to reckon with statistical arguments, but from the viewpoint of our economic condition this decision is not important," the PM said.

Warsaw, Oct. 21: Poland will meet nominal convergence criteria by 2007, and the EU report that questions this plan is based on false assumptions, deputy PM Jerzy Hausner said."In purely factual categories, this report contains mistakes.(...) As to the conclusions (after its publication) I have an impression that instead of arguing whether we will meet (the convergence criteria or not), we should do the most that can be done to meet them," Hausner said."By 2007 we will meet nominal convergence criteria and Poland will be able to join the euro zone in 2009," Hausner said. On Wednesday the European Commission presented a report in which it questioned Poland's chances to cut the budget deficit to below 3 pct of the GDP in 2007. This would make it more difficult for Poland to join the euro zone two years later, in accordance with a government plan. According to the report, there is a risk that the budget savings to be generated under the Hausner plan would be smaller. The parliament-adopted or discussed funds account for some 25-30 pct of the planned savings, the document said. In addition, authors of the report say that the deficit may rise by 1.6 pct of the GDP (under government estimates the budget deficit will be 5.7 pct at year-end, and in case of the exclusion of open pension funds from public finances - over 7 pct) if Eurostat orders Poland to change the method of putting down domestic transfers to the pension fund. The European Commission said that Poland does not meet any of the five EU entry criteria.

Warsaw, Oct. 21: John O'Rourke of the European Commission Delegation in Poland was decorated with the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland on Thursday. The distinction was presented to him by deputy Prime Minister Jerzy Hausner. John O'Rourke was engaged in the implementation of pre-accession programmes with the use of the EU structural funds. Hausner stressed that O'Rourke's merits in preparing Poland's EU accession were so important that President Aleksander Kwasniewski decided to award him. The ceremony was attended by Ambassador Bruno Dethomas, Head of the European Commission Delegation in Poland.

Warsaw, Oct. 21: Deputy PM and Economy Minister Jerzy Hausner expects that in October the unemployment rate will fall by around 0.1 pct from September, that is to 18.8 percent.Unemployment went down by 1,000 people after mid-October while it went up by 6,000 people in the corresponding period of 2003. I believe that unemployment will be lower by 25,000 people at the end of October and that the unemployment rate will fall by 0.1 percent from September, Hausner told reporters. The Central Statistical Office (GUS) will present official data concerning unemployment in September during a press conference on Friday. According to officials of the economy and labour ministry the unemployment rate should stand at 18.9 pct.

Warsaw, Oct. 21: The finance ministry expects the 2004 budget deficit to be 2 bn zloty lower than planned, despite higher spending connected with EU project financing in last months of the year, deputy finance minister Elzbieta Suchocka-Roguska said. "The deficit should be 2 bn zlotys lower and it is realistic to achieve. This amount may be still be changed (...)," the deputy finance minister said. The government planned the 2004 budget deficit at 45.3 bn zlotys. "If the deficit is lower by 2 bn zlotys, or by 43-43.5 bn zlotys, then it should be expected that during November and December the deficit will be getting closer to this forecast. In October-November spending should considerable accelerate predominantly connected with co-financing of domestic budget, farmer subsidy payments, and other EU projects," she said. The budget deficit after September 2004 was 28,954.1 mn zlotys, or 63.9 pct of the 45.3 bn zlotys planned for the whole year. After August the budget deficit was 57.1 pct of the 2004 plan.

Gliwice, Oct.21: The 500,000th car rolled off the assembly line of the Opel Polska plant in Gliwice on Thursday. This year's production will total 100,000 units. 95 pc of all cars is exported. The Gliwice plant will start assembly of a new model next year, the Zafira. Production will grow to 180,000-190,000 units a year in a few year's time, the spokesman for General Motors Poland told. The plant employs 1,900 people and plans to hire 700 more to turn out Zafiras. The value of GM's investment in Gliwice is now estimated at over 1.6 bn zlotys (ca. 480 m USD), compared with the initial declared value of 1.2 bn zlotys.

Warsaw, Oct. 21: The Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland (SdLP) will back an amendment that introduces a 50 percent PIT rate for annual income of over 600 thousand zlotys during a Sejm vote scheduled for Friday morning, SdPl leader Marek Borowski said. Borowski said that the amendment is designed to make high income earners take part in the government austerity plan. The new tax rate is to generate 250 mn zlotys in extra revenues. The amendment was put forward by the Union of Labour parliamentary caucus. The Public Finances Committee on Wednesday issued a negative opinion about it in a vote of 12 against 10 with 12 abstentions. During Friday's votes the Sejm will consider another proposal for 50-percent PIT rate. The amendment proposed by the Self-Defence foresees the annual income threshold at 144 thousand zlotys.

Warsaw, Oct. 21: A film starring Patrick Swayze will be shot in Poland probably next year, producer Jacek Samojlowicz told PAP Thursday. The U.S. actor and his wife Lisa Niemi came to Warsaw Wednesday to attend the Polish premiere of Niemi's film "One Last Dance" starring Swayze. Samojlowicz, who is owner of NVC Felix Film, said he would like the film to be a 30-million USD project made inn cooperation wiht Columbia Studio of Holywood. The picture is to be directed by Lisa Niemi. The 52-year old Swayze on Thursday visited a Ballet School and met with students of Warsaw Film School run by film director Maciej Slesicki. Samojlowicz asked Slesicki to write a script for his project.

posted by: Oborski at 02:01 | link | comments |

From Warsaw Voice...

"Often, children are threatened with the police at home. The parents say, 'If you are not good, the cops will come and take you away'."
-Beata Majkowska, an employee of the Warsaw Police Headquarters, on why small children are afraid of asking a police officer for help when they are approached by a stranger in the street, or in other dangerous situations

"It seems I somehow inspire Leszek Miller to make poetic comparisons; you might say I'm his muse."
-Zbigniew Ziobro, a deputy of Law and Justice (PiS), whom former Prime Minister Leszek Miller called "a zero" and compared to Josef Goebbels, minister of propaganda in the Third Reich

"When an idiocy has to be passed, our parliament is unanimous."
-Jerzy Urban, editor-in-chief of the controversial NIE weekly, on the Sejm's unanimous passing of a bill ordering the government to demand World War II compensations from Germany

"This person has caused a real loss for our company. We are obliged to pursue the claim on behalf of the taxpayers."
-Krzysztof Łańcucki, spokesman for the Polish State Railways (PKP), on the fact that the PKP is demanding zl.2,000 of compensation for three delayed trains from a man who after being beaten unconscious and left on railway tracks, got hit by a train and became crippled

"It seems to me that at this exhibition, Poland looks like a country in which two areas of life flourish: church construction and illegal abortion."
-A visitor to the exhibition The Image of Europe, prepared by the Dutch government in Brussels and presenting European Union member countries

"I'm against removing borders because they constitute a guarantee of human freedom."
-Czech President Vaclav Klaus on the idea of European Union

posted by: Oborski at 17:13 | link | comments |

Warsaw, Oct.19: President Aleksander Kwasniewski received PM of Norway Kjell Magne Bondevik. They emphasized the very good condition of Polish-Norwegian relations, and reviewed the present international situation stressing the need for consolidating the euroatlantic ties. Earlier Kjell Magne Bondevik met Sejm speaker Jozef Oleksy and talked with him about bilateral economic cooperation and cooperation in the international forum. After meeting Bondevik Oleksy told that Polish-Norwegian cooperation could develop particularly well in such fields as shipbuilding, fisheries, electronics, oil industry and the labour market. He added that Poland awaited the lifting of transitional restrictions on the access of Poles to Norwegian labour market. This will happen soon, Oleksy said. Bondevik also took part in a Polish-Norwegian Business Forum.

Warsaw, Oct. 19: President Aleksander Kwasniewski proposed to establish an international Jacek Kuron Prize "for activities in favour of freedom," to be awarded under the aegis of the International Labour Organisation ILO. The president was taking part in the conference on reforms of a welfare state, also attended by Juan Somavia, director general of the International Bureau of Labour. Kwasniewski recalled that Jacek Kuron was a man who "fought at various fronts not to lose man from one's sight" in "those great social processes taking place."

Warsaw, Oct.19: Challenges facing the new EU Commission to start work Nov.1 will be the subject of talks between the new chairman of the Commission Jose Manuel Durao Barroso and PM Marek Belka. Barroso is on a working visit in Poland, one of the stages of his European tour. The main topics in the Belka-Barroso talks will be the composition, action programme and expectations of the new Commission, the prospect of the European Constitutional Treaty coming into force, further enlargement of the EU, its eastern policy, and the Lisbon Strategy. The two politicians will review the challenges facing the Commission in the field of financial policy, coherence and competition policies, justice, internal affairs (especially protection of the EU external border and preparations of the new EU members to join the Schengen area).

Ottawa, Oct. 19: Senate Speaker Longin Pastusiak continuing his visit to Canada has met with PM Paul Martin and Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew to discuss international affairs, including issues linked with Iraq. Pastusiak said after the talks that although Canada did not send its troops to Iraq still his interlocutors stressed that their country identifies itself with the political goals of the coalition forces in Iraq. The Senate speaker also said that both sides agreed that the handing over of power to the Iraqi people should take place as quickly as possible. According to Pastusiak it is advisable to speed up training of Iraqi police and army as well as the co-participation in international structures, including NATO and the UN, in the supervision and reconstruction of Iraq.

Warsaw, Oct. 19: The Sejm adopted a resolution in memory of Father Jerzy Popieluszko (1947-1984) on the 20th anniversary of the martyr's death of the late Solidarity union's charismatic priest. The resolution was adopted unanimously. Father Popieluszko "courageously defended the ideals of truth, freedom and justice," the resolution said recalling the priest's death at the hands of communist security service officers. "His death was one of the last acts of the state terror aimed at its own citizens in the long chain of the post-war history," the resolution stressed.

Warsaw, Oct. 19: Poland's farmer subsidy payment system is in good working order and has to date channelled 5,400 money transfers, agriculture minister Wojciech Olejniczak informed the press after government sitting. Everything went smoothly with no holdups reported. The speed with which farmers receive their money will depend on the speed with which banks pay them out, the minister said. Olejniczak said he hoped most of the payments would take place this year. Our target is 30,000 transfers daily, which will get the brunt of the payments off the table this year, he noted. According to Olejniczak most farmers used their subsidy money for investments and running needs. He also reminded that rural communities without local spatial plans had a chance for aid under the EU Rural Development Programme (owners of low-yield land will be offered money from the Programme's afforestation funds). He added that the government passed a resolution to this effect, to come in force on its publication day.

Warsaw, Oct. 19: A traditional Japanese teahouse opened in the Warsaw University Library. The pavilion, a gift from Poland's honorary consul Ms Kazuko Takashima and the Kyoei Steel Company in Osaka, is one of two such objects in Europe. The other, smaller than the Warsaw one, is in London. Fronting the teahouse is a small gravelled garden in which tealovers can meditate before passing to the drinking ceremony. The inside is decorated by a handwritten scroll and the season's flowers. This gift is a small brick in the construction of universal peace, said Warsaw University rector Piotr Weglanski. Present at the opening were Japanese ambassador in Poland Masako Ono, officials from Kyoei Steel and Warsaw University representatives.

Warsaw, Oct.19: A new business magazine titled Manager Magazin Edycja Polska will hit newspaper stands at the turn of the year. It will be published jointly by Infor, a Polish publishing group, the publisher of the Gazeta Prawna, among other titles, and the German Manager Magazin Verlagsgesellschaft. Manager Magazin Verlags is a part of the Spiegel Group and publisher of Manager Magazin and Harvard Business Magazin in Germany and Hungary.

Warsaw, Oct. 19: September's industrial production rose 9.3 pct year-on-year, after a 13.7 pct growth in August, and rose 8.9 pct month-on-month, the Central Statistical Office (GUS) said. Economists expected industrial production prices to grow 8.4 pct y/y with forecasts ranging from 6.0 to 13.1 pct. Production in the mining industry fell 2.3 pct y/y, and rose 6.0 pct m/m. Production in the processing industry rose 10.1 pct y/y and rose 9.3 pct m/m. Production in the power, gas and water generating and supply sector rose 7.8 pct y/y and rose 5.4 pct m/m. Seasonally-adjusted industrial production rose 10.0 pct y/y and rose 1.5 pct m/m.

Warsaw, Oct. 19: Poland has manufactured 395,195 passenger cars during the first three quarters of 2004, up 76 percent on the comparative period of last year, Samar company monitoring the automotive market said on Tuesday. Eighty three pct of passenger cars and 89.7 pct of delivery vans manufactured in Poland has been exported. According to Samar Fiat is the biggest carmaker in Poland. The company's share in complete production reached 58.4 per cent after the first three quarters of the year. Next is Opel (21.6 pct), Volkswagen (11.2 pct), FSO (8.7 pct) and VW Caddy (7.1 pct).

Warsaw, Oct. 19: 47 % of Poles see the Czech Republic as a good neighbour, a recent poll by TNS OBOP polling centre showed. The ranking of good neighbours also includes Slovakia (38 pct), Germany (37 pct) and Lithuania (22 pct), Ukraine (12 pct), Russia (10 pct) and Belarus (8 pct). 39 % of those polled claimed that Russia is a bad neighbour. 25 % of the respondents voiced a similar opinion about Germany.

"Cześć!"

Links

Archives

Counter