"Cześć!"

 

PM about elections date

Warsaw, Jan. 28: PM Marek Belka said after meeting with leaders of the ruling Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) that he had urged SLD to support an early election. I think June is a better date for the ballot and I repeated once more that I did not plan to resign my government if elections were held in autumn, Belka told. Early elections were also supported by Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) caucus leader Krzysztof Janik and deputy PM Jerzy Hausner. Janik admitted that some in SLD would prefer an autumn date as foreseen in the Polish constitution. SLD leader Jozef Oleksy said that he preferred an autumn election as it would allow the ratification of the EU constitution treaty this year. Asked about the government's role in deciding the issue Janik stated that the government "had nothing to do with the matter". The government is a representation of parliament. The constitutional election date is announced by the president. In cases of an early election the decision lies with parliament and needs a 307-strong majority, Janik explained.

Belka, Brazauskas discuss Polish-Lithuanian relations, EU

Warsaw, Jan. 28: The Polish-Lithuanian political and economic cooperation as well as EU matters were discussed by Polish and Lithuanian PMs Marek Belka and Algirdas Brazauskas. Both PMs stressed very good cooperation and contacts between their countries, wrote the government information centre CIR in a statement. PM Belka positively assessed Polish-Lithuanian trade turnover which, according to CIR, reached 1,598.3 million USD in the 11 months of 2004. The two agreed that the Intergovernmental Council should meet still before parliamentary elections in Poland. They stressed the need for the two countries to cooperate on new EU budget for 2007-2013, and in particular on the policy of cohesion, agriculture, rural areas and the reform of their own means.

Polish, Slovak defence ministers discuss EU-NATO cooperation

Warsaw, Jan. 28: Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski discussed the development of cooperation between the EU and NATO during an official visit to Slovakia. Talks between Szmajdzinski and his Slovak counterpart Yuray Liska centred on the formation of a Combat Group within the European Security and Defence Policy with the participation of Poland, Germany and Slovakia. Both defence ministers plan to sign a related Memorandum of Understanding in June 2005. The ministers evaluated the development of the situation in Iraq, including Polish and Slovak armed forces involvement in the stabilisation mission. Szmajdzinski stressed that the reduced number of the Polish Military Contingent in Iraq will not influence security of the Multinational Division Centre-South as the division combat ability had increased. The Polish minister's meetings focused also on the Polish and Slovak involvement in the work of the Visegrad Group. Jerzy Szmajdzinski, as the first civilian ever, was decorated with the First Class Remembrance Medal of the Slovak Defence Minister. The Polish minister was also received by Slovak President Ivan Gasparowic, deputy Speaker of the Slovak National Council Bela Bugar and Bratislava city President Andrey Durkovsky.

Truszcynski to attend GAERC session

Warsaw, Jan. 28: Secretary of state at the Foreign Ministry Jan Truszczynski will attend a session of General Affairs and External Relations of the EU in Brussels on January 31, 2005. The session will be devoted to the council operation programme for 2005. The ministers will also discuss financial prospects for EU states for 2007-2013, with particular emphasis on the policy of cohesion as well as latest international developments.

U.S. Vice President visits Auschwitz death camp

Oswiecim, Jan. 28: U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney paid a private visit to the State Museum Auschwitz-Birekenau. Cheney paid tribute to those murdered, in front of the death wall where the Germans shot several thousand prisoners. He laid red roses in the gas chamber in the crematorium building in the former Auschwitz death camp. The U.S. vice president saw museum's exhibitions and a cell where Maksymilian Kolbe, later beatified, died by starvation on 14 August 1941. Dick Cheney is the third incumbent U.S. vice president to visit the former Auschwitz death camp, in addition to George Bush senior and Al Gore. The museum was  visited by two incumbent U.S. presidents Gerald Ford in July 1975 and George W. Bush in May 2003.

Politicians on Iraqi elections

Warsaw, Jan. 30: Polish politicians present divergent views on how the elections in Iraq may change the situation there. Bronislaw Komorowski of the Citizens Platform (PO) says that the elections held today will not have much of an impact. He predicts that western states will pull out their troops from Iraq soon after the elections. If this happens, also the Polish troops should not stay there, Komorowski stresses. Stanislaw Ciosek, foreign policy adviser to president Aleksander Kwasniewski, claims the elections will bring about significant changes. A democratically elected government will be formed that will make decisions on cooperation with the USA and the presence of Polish troops in Iraq, he believes. Tomasz Nalecz of the Social Democracy of Poland (SdPl) expects that the elections may radically change U.S. policies. "We will see a paradox: Americans have traditionally sought alliance with the Sunnis against the Shiites in Arab countries, but now power in Iraq will be held by the latter and the Americans will have to cooperate with them," Nalecz predicts. Dariusz Szymczycha of the presidential chancellery hopes that the elections will make it possible to terminate the stabilisation mission of the multinational military coalition in Iraq and this will lead to changes in the political situation. As a result the number of victims of terrorist attacks will decline.

Aid projects for Iraqi civilians in Polish zone

Warsaw, Jan. 30: The Multinational Centre-South Division in Iraq under Polish command has implemented hundreds of aid projects directed to the Iraqi people, the first commander of the division, General Andrzej Tyszkiewicz told. The value of all the projects is estimated at almost 100 million USD. General Tyszkiewicz, now deputy commander of Poland's land forces, added that further 20 million USD will be spent to conclude projects now being implemented. He stressed that money for these projects comes from funds of the anti-Saddam international coalition forces. Tyszkiewicz said Polish soldiers play an important role in the reconstruction of local administration and the rebuilding of destroyed public buildings in Iraq. The division has repaired or rebuilt a number of health centres, equipped numerous hospitals and laboratories. Soldiers helped in the rebuilding and modernization of water and sewage systems and sewage treatment plants. One of the division's key tasks is also the training of new Iraqi armed forces and civil defence. "We have held a number of training courses for judges, prosecutors and investigators. We have trained and armed prison officers..." said Tyszkiewicz. He also stressed that the division was and is involved in the protection of religious sites and sites of cultural heritage.

Fish in Baltic Sea not contaminated, Agriculture Ministry

Warsaw, Jan. 28: The Agriculture Ministry denied a WWF Polska report that fish in the Baltic Sea are so contaminated that they could be hazardous to health. The report, published on the WWF Polska Internet site, said that Baltic fish that end up on people's plates are contaminated with chemicals because "the industry is not interested in any control of produced chemicals". Deputy agriculture minister Jerzy Pilarczyk told that the level of contamination in fish from the Polish fishing zone in the Baltic Sea is within acceptable limits. Pilarczyk presented the results of contamination surveys carried out since 1995 according to which "the contamination level in fish from the Polish fishing zone does not exceed acceptable limits and has gone down in recent years".

Poland, Finland pool forces in innovation

Warsaw, Jan. 28: In 2004 Finland and Poland completed ten innovation projects in power industry, communications, IT and biotechnology worth a total 6.2 million euros, Petri Peltonen, head of Finland's National Technology Agency (TAKES), said at a Warsaw meeting on new technologies. The meeting's Finnish guests stressed that Finland was counting on innovation to strengthen its commercial position on world markets and that Finnish R&D units and innovation-promoting companies received considerable aid from the government. Finland is a small European country with a rather unfavourable climate, so we are developing those of our industrial sectors that have a chance on international markets, said Antti Joensuu from the Finnish industry and trade ministry. He added that Finland assigned up to 3.5 percent of its GDP to R&D and innovation. Last year TAKES spent 400 million eurios on innovation projects. The World Economic Forum recently named Finland as the country where new technologies are introduced fastest.

Ministry rejects Rotschild offer

Warsaw, Jan. 30: An offer to advise on the privatisation of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) submitted by Rotschild Corporate Finance Polska was rejected , the state treasury ministry announced. Invitations for submitting offers was sent out to McKinsey&Co. Poland, CDM Pekao SA together with Ernst&Young, and Citigroup Markets Polska together with DM Banku Handlowego, next to Rotschild. The ministry also said that Rotschild filed a protest over the rejection of its offer.

Poll: President, PM get better marks

Warsaw, Jan. 28: Fifty six per cent of those polled by TNS OBOP has positively assessed the work of President Aleksander Kwasniewski, three percentage points more than in December. 37 per cent had a negative opinion. As for PM Marek Belka, he received 31 per cent of positive and 46 per cent of negative opinions. In December 27 per cent said they were satisfied with the PM's work and 52 per cent were dissatisfied. The Belka government was positively assessed by 12 per cent of the polled and negatively by 81 per cent. The poll was conducted on January 6-10 on a representative group of 1,005 Poles.

PGB poll: Borowski for president

Warsaw, Jan 30: Marek Borowski of the Social Democracy of Poland (SdPl) would win the presidential elections if they were held on the last weekend of January, according to a recent PGB poll. Borowski was supported by 14 percent of the respondents, 2 per cent less than in December. Next came Donald Tusk (Citizens' Platform) and Zbigniew Religa - 13 per cent each. Support for Lech Kaczynski (Law and Justice) went down by 6 per cent to 12 per cent, similar support was voiced for Samoobrona Leader Andrzej Lepper. Next in line are Maciej Giertych - 9 pct, Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz - 7 pct, Janusz Wojciechowski 5 pct and  Wladyslaw Frasyniuk - 3 percent. Two percent said they would vote for former president Lech Walesa. PGB ran the poll on January 22-26 on a representative sample of 1,074 adult Poles. Presidential elections in Poland are scheduled to take place this fall.  

posted by: Oborski at 17:36 | link | comments |