Polish Consulate...

Wyre Forest Conservative Association
Margaret Thatcher House
35 Mill Street
Kidderminster.

You should be aware that Michael Howard’s comment on ‘Desert Island Discs’ about “Polish Concentration Camps” - when referring to German Concentration Camps situated in Poland during World War II — has caused very considerable offence to the Polish Community across the UK.

I share the opinion expressed by Jan Mokrzycki, Chairman of the Federation of Poles in the UK, that the subsequent ‘apology’ by Mr Howard’s private secretary is totally insufficient.

The Polish Press Agency (PAP) reports Jan Mokrzycki as saying “assuming that Mr Howard's intention may not have been to offend Poles, for a politician of his experience it ought to be clear that his statement would be taken in that way and only his personal apology can repair at least a part of the damage that has been done" . I feel that comment precisely encapsulates the feelings of the Polish community here and elsewhere.

The Polish community in Kidderminster arrived in the UK as an outcome of Poland and the United Kingdom’s mutual struggle against Nazi tyranny “for our freedom and yours”. We find Mr. Howard’s words deeply upsetting and most offensive.

Wyre Forest Conservative Association
Margaret Thatcher House
35 Mill Street, Kidderminster, Worcs.

Michael Howard’s unfortunate use of the term “Polish Concentration Camps” , to describe Nazi Concentration Camps situated in Poland in World War II in his recent Desert Island Discs appearance, has been enormously upsetting for the Polish community here as elsewhere in the country.

I know that there has been an apology from Mr. Howard’s private secretary but the matter is not resolved.

The Chairman of the ZPWB (Federation of Poles in GB) has said that “assuming that Mr Howard's intention may not have been to offend Poles, for a politician of his experience it ought to be clear that his statement would be taken in that way and only his personal apology can repair at least a part of the damage that has been done". It has to be said that his comment is an accurate reflection of the mood in the Polish community.

Only recently we entertained Conservative MEP Philip Bradbourn at the Polish Ex-Servicemen’s Club in Kidderminster on the occasion of the celebrations to mark Poland’s entry to EU. It was a marvellous evening. It would be a shame if the good relations between the Polish community and the Conservative Party were disrupted by this unfortunate remark.

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Well almost! So don't expect many or even any postings for a while. While we are offline you can pick up Polish News daily from Radio Polonia or weekly in more depth from Warsaw Voice.

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From Warsaw Voice

"During the rule of the left nothing has been done to change the situation, in that there is only one person who talks about sex in Polish school-the priest."
-Jacek Kochanowski, a sociologist from the Warsaw University

"We have a weak government and that makes me optimistic. This is a great chance. No strong government has ever done anything that would serve society because it would immediately become too proud of itself and would do something that was good-but only for its own kind."
-Prof. Wiktor Osiatyński, a lawyer and constitution expert, on the situation in Poland after Marek Belka's government obtained the vote of confidence

"From the formal point of view, my idea of who I am now is extremely vague."
-Janusz Lewandowski from the Civic Platform (PO), a former Sejm deputy, who has been elected to the European Parliament, on the changes in his life

"Certainly the cameras will be pointed at him quite often [during the debate broadcasts] because he has very interesting facial expressions; for example, he often snorts with contempt. But in fact he won't be there: he will be too slow at thinking."
-PR expert Piotr Tymochowicz on the future role of Zbigniew Witaszek, a former Samoobrona deputy, now in the Federative Caucus, who sits in the Sejm investigation committee examining the case of PKN Orlen

"Frankly, I don't know. I didn't have time to attend party meetings."
-Tomasz Sudoł, a businessman, former Samoobrona candidate in the elections to the European Parliament, when asked how he is perceived by the activists of the party that officially is against the rich

"In the summer, it is easy to recognize a popular actor by their tanned back, because they always lie with their face in the sand, so that people don't recognize them at the beach."
-Michał Milowicz, a popular sitcom actor

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By Sławomir Majman
From Warsaw Voice

Fifteen years ago, I didn’t go away on vacation.
Fifteen years ago, in the summer, communist Poland departed. It departed after the elections won by Solidarity. Few people remember today that those watershed elections had a meager turnout. Nearly 40 percent of the nation wasn’t interested enough in its revolution to get out of the house and vote.

In any case, that summer hardly anyone thought it was a revolution at all, that democracy, the free market and capitalism were just around the corner, while communism was becoming history.

In terms of form, this was a revolution without barricades, shots or even fireworks in the streets. Communism did not depart to the boom of cannon, not one window was shattered in its defense. It simply fell apart, like a frayed shirt. The Polish revolution didn’t ignite the imagination: it involved potbellied guys negotiating in conference rooms, the clang of teaspoons stirring countless cups of coffee and the rustle of ballots falling into boxes.

In terms of content, in summer 1989 the generally held hope was for a corrected version of socialism, with some participation from the opposition and a few lusciously green oases of free enterprise. The free market, stock exchange, full democracy as opposed to democratization—these were unthinkable even after Solidarity won the elections, even for the boldest visionaries.

I didn’t go away on vacation that summer because every day brought new sensations. Ex-political prisoners, the boogeymen the communists scared their children with, entered the Sejm and Senate, the recent victims and oppressors voted together for reforms, the first non-communist prime minister in Eastern Europe was appointed, a spontaneous, non-decreed privatization of trade took place, starting from camp beds piled high with Far Eastern clothes, exotic fruit and electronic equipment.

The day after the elections, two spokesmen appeared on television: Janusz Onyszkiewicz from Solidarity was delicate in announcing the triumph of Lech Wałęsa’s team, but his communist colleague Jan Bisztyga was dressed so as to leave no doubts—it was obvious he had come to a funeral. The two heralds hadn’t the faintest idea that sitting in the TV studio on Woronicza Street, they were proclaiming a change of system not only in Poland, but for the whole eastern part of Europe.

■ To get an idea of what Poland looked like 15 years ago, first of all you would need to clear the sidewalks of any banana skins. Back then, the only thing lying around a Warsaw sidewalk would have been an apple core.

You would have to clear away all the goods from butcher shops, leaving surly clerks and their faithful companions—cockroaches dying of boredom among the empty shelves. Take away the cars. Leave just Fiats, Wartburgs and Zhigulis. Plus a handful of Toyotas, brought in from abroad by a very few lucky devils. Lead a group of joyful citizens into Marszałkowska Street, all of them with garlands of miraculously purchased toilet paper hanging around their necks on pieces of string. Place a group of workers in soiled work jackets, pulling at bottles of flat beer on a mucky construction site, next to a crane stuck in mud up to its axles because nobody can be bothered to start it up. Close the restaurants, leaving no more than ten, and don’t forget to hire only guys with faces like Boris Karloff and Klaus Kinski.

■ This was Poland just 15 years ago. Despite that, 40 percent of Poles wish for a return to communist Poland. Have that many Poles gone so crazy as to wish for the absurdity of food ration cards, the muzzle of censorship, secret police and a several-month-long wait to buy a TV set?

The dissatisfied include at least three groups: those who are really worse off than 15 years ago, those whose standard of living is evidently higher but who don’t like the fact that the present system requires them to work hard and be resourceful, and those who compare what they have with what others have and become frustrated.

First of all, life is worse for the great majority of Polish farmers. The years following 1989 uncovered such weaknesses of Poland’s scattered and unorganized agriculture that nobody had realized existed. When prices were freed up, farmers became the first beneficiaries of the change. It quickly turned out they were also the first victims of the reform. The steep drop in farmer income continues, and the income of a Polish farmer today is equal to just 40 percent of a city dweller’s. In rural areas, old-age pensions, disability pensions and—soon—EU subsidies are of greater significance than income from crops and livestock.

The transformation was just as painful for the industrial working class. The archaic mastodons of industrialization turned out to be impossible to maintain in the free market, and for their employees this meant not only the collapse of the foundation of their material existence but also their system of values. A social group placed sky-high not only by the communists but also by Solidarity—the working class—who were taught a sense of superiority and were led to believe they were a shining example, first of communism and then of the fight against communism, in the most part turned out to be superfluous. From an object of cult, they turned into a problem. The haughty, self-confident workers of giant factories, before whom the communist director and the party secretary had trembled, became the frustrated objects of restructuring and retraining—something a sizable part of them couldn’t cope with.

Secondly, nostalgia for the People’s Poland is cultivated by those Poles who don’t have less, but who would prefer to exchange the necessity to fend for themselves for the social security of communism, for the omnipresent guardianship of the state guaranteeing a low standard of living but eliminating the fear of tomorrow.

Thirdly, dreaming of the ancien régime are those whose standard has improved slightly, but who cannot stand the thought that their neighbors have it 15 times better. The citizens of communist Poland, with few exceptions, lived on a similar level, poverty had subjective causes, while equality and a hatred of the rich was upheld by the political stance of the state. That someone had one room more hurt less than today’s easily visible gated communities with private security guards and swimming pools. The pain of diversity devours the joy of improving one’s own status.

Nobody in their right mind doubts that the absolute majority of Poles have benefited from the changes that began 15 years ago. Worse is the fact that not all those who benefited are sure they actually did.

■ During the past 15 years, Poles did much better than their neighbors.
The average salary counted in U.S. dollars grew from $32 to $605 per month. One hundred percent more Poles can afford to travel abroad. Inflation has fallen from 251 to 4 percent.

The growth of gross domestic product from a negligible 0.2 percent jumped to 6.5 percent. But, unemployment has also risen dramatically, the amount of housing is not growing and there have emerged social groups experiencing a lasting rejection by the system.

During the past 15 years the Poles have largely shown themselves to be enterprising and resourceful, and everything that was shocking in its novelty that hot summer of 1989 has turned banal. Thank goodness.

This summer, yet again, more Poles are betraying the cold Baltic in favor of the Mediterranean. Poles are calmly going away on vacation because their revolution, with all its advantages and faults, is long behind them.

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Warsaw, Kabul, July 19: Prime Minister Marek Belka paid short visits to Afghanistan and Uzbekistan on Monday while returning from Iraq and Kuwait to Poland. The visit was kept secret. On Sunday Marek Belka unexpectedly arrived in Camp Babylon in Iraq. There he declared Poland will keep its military commitment until 2005 but after a U.N. mandate for international forces expires the nature of the Polish contingent would have to be changed. Belka said he hoped there may not be a need for international forces in Iraq any more after 2005 as Iraq may strengthen its own security forces. After meeting Afghan President Hamid Karzaj Belka assessed the situation in Afghanistan as moderately peaceful. However, part of Polish troops may be relocated from Iraq to Afghanistan. Belka added that international missions to Iraq and to Afghanistan are equally important and equally difficult. "I would imagine the situation, when needed, that we could relocate some of our people here," AP quoted Belka. "But it's a matter of the future, not immediate decisions". The PM underlined it could take place only after elections in Afghanistan in October. In Uzbekistan Belka met with his counterpart Shavkat Mirziyayev.

Warsaw, July 19: Afghanistan is starting reconstruction and as it is much safer there than in Iraq, Polish firms should do everything to win contracts in that country, PM Marek Belka said following his visit to Afghanistan. Belka, who met with President Karzai, said the president appreciated Poland as the country which achieved a success in reforms. The Polish PM said that Karzai thanked for the participation of Polish troops in the stabilization contingent in Iraq. The president displayed interest in the work of Polish experts in designing and carrying out economic and social reforms in his country. According to Belka, Afghanistan is perceived as a marginal country as far as investment attractiveness is concerned. And the situation is different, the PM stressed as "there is money flowing there, (...) and economic activity is more intensified".

Warsaw, July 20: Deputy Foreign Minister Adam Rotfeld said that ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising organized by head of the German Union of Expellees Erika Steinbach in Berlin were an inappropriate initiative. A meeting, headlined "Empathy a road to community" held in a Berlin church on Monday, was planned to mark the Warsaw Rising. Neither Polish historians nor Warsaw Rising veterans were invited to attend. Rotfeld said that the Rising was "the last issue Erika Steinbach should speak about and instrumentalize it for her own interest in Germany". According to him, Steinbach organized the meeting only because she was still seeking justification for her project to open a Center against Expulsions in Berlin. Rotfeld stressed that he was sure that German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who would come to Poland on August 1 to attend the ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw Rising, was fully aware of the sensitivity of the issue for Poles and would surely want his visit to be a very significant moment.

Warsaw, July 19: German Deportee Association head Erika Steinbach's plans to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising in a Berlin church without Polish delegates but in the presence of German homeland representatives is a bad idea which will harm Polish-German relations, Leon Kieres, head of Warsaw's National Remembrance Institute (IPN) in Warsaw, said. Kieres, attending a sitting of Poland's National Committee for the 60th Warsaw Uprising Anniversary Celebrations, said he had "heard nothing about Polish uprising veterans being invited to the ceremony". He added that he was surprised Steinbach was involved in the event as she was "not very credible on this issue". According to League of Polish Families (LPR) leader Roman Giertych Steinbach's plans to celebrate the Warsaw Uprising were a "provocation" comparable to Russians celebrating the Red Army's 1939 invasion of Poland. Recalling that his father had to watch his house being blown up by German soldiers, Giertych admonished that "(...) murder, rape, destruction and other acts committed by the Germans after the uprising's fall are something the German political elite should look back upon with shame. And you don't celebrate shame". German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung appealed to the German government to ensure that "tributes to German war victims are paid in such a way as not to evoke protests from our neighbours". The paper also noted that the conflict around Steinbach's deportee centre had damaged Polish-German relations "to an unimaginable extent". The Warsaw Uprising lasted 63 days, during which 16,000 insurgents were killed, 25,000 were hurt and over 15,000 imprisoned. Civilian deaths during the conflict came to 180,000, 50,000 Varsovians were deported to concentration camps.

Warsaw, July 19: A forum on Polish European policy was inaugurated in Warsaw by Secretary of state at the foreign ministry Adam Daniel Rotfeld. The first session on the European security strategy was attended by director of the General Secretariat of the European Council Robert Cooper. Rotfeld said the forum sessions provide the opportunity for the exchange of opinions of key issues on Poland as EU member. According to Cooper, the enlarged EU cannot exist without a common security policy.

Cracow, July 19: Deputy PM Jerzy Hausner said that the point of balance, at which exporters are not suffering losses due to a strong zloty on the one hand and public finances are secured in the best possible way on the other hand, is around 4.35 zlotys for one euro. "A strong zloty surely has an influence on exports. There is a question where the point of balance is at which exporters are not suffering losses and at which public finances are secured in the best possible way. We are not sure. Basing on analyses, I thought it was somewhere around 4.35 zlotys (for one euro, ed.)", said Hausner. Currently export is growing but one has to carefully observe it. The minister also said Poland's economy should grow 6.1-6.2 pct in Q2 against 6.9 pct in Q1. "The question to think about now is not how to stimulate the growth but how to strengthen it. What is most important for me is what to do to make the high over 5 pct growth last in the coming quarters," he added.

Brussels, July 19: Poland's strategic goal is to abolish border checks on the frontiers to the new EU member states and start Schengen admission procedures for them as soon as possible, Polish interior minister Ryszard Kalisz said in Brussels. Poland has set the end of 2007 as the strategic deadline for abolishing border controls on the EU's inner frontiers. Kalisz added he would present the EU with a Schengen admission plan backed by the so-called Salzburg group (Poland, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic) under which Schengen preparations launched by the new EU states would be completed in a two-phase procedure lasting only 16 months. Under the current admission system Poland would join the Schengen group at earliest in 2011 or 2012.

Warsaw, July 20: The National Bank of Poland (NBP) and the Finance Ministry are continuing talks on Poland's euro zone entry strategy. "On July 19 another meeting of the NBP and Finance Ministry's Interministerial Working Group for Poland's Integration with the Economic and Monetary Union was held. (...) The meeting was dominated by issues relating to current conditions for Poland's integration with the Economic and Monetary Union and to working out a strategy of Poland'd euro zone entry," NBP wrote. "In particular discussed were plans to carry out the Convergence Program that was presented to the EC by Poland's government on May 14 as part of an economic policy coordination process within the EU," the NBP wrote. Under the convergence program, Poland is to meet budgetary criteria in 2007 and enter the euro zone in 2009. "It was decided that during the Group's meetings the NBP and the finance ministry will exchange views on Poland's integration with the Economic and Monetary Union that would in particular relate to Poland's joining the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM2) and the adoption of the euro in Poland. The views will then be taken into account while formulating by the government's and NBP's authorised organs Poland's official position that will be presented, among others, during the sittings of the Committee for Economic and Financial issues of the EU Council," the NBP wrote.

Warsaw, July 19: The Fitch rating agency fears that a Ukrainian government's decision to ship Russian oil from Brody to Odessa via the Odessa-Brody pipeline may be of a permanent character. It was originally settled that the pipeline will carry Caspian oil from Odessa to Brody and, after extending the pipeline, it could be send to Poland and other EU countries. Fitch treats cautiously Ukrainian government's assurances that the reversal of oil flow would be temporary until the Polish stretch of the pipeline is built. A week ago the Ukrainian government said that the flow of oil via the Odessa-Brody would be reversed for three years. Fitch said that the reversal would be good for Russian firms that would not have to fear competition on the part of the Caspian Sea producers. In February Ukraine decided that the Caspian oil would be sent to the West European markets via the 500 mn USD worth pipeline. But a month ago the Ukrainian government changed the decision and allowed to reverse the flow. A Polish-Ukrainian company Sarmatia which is to probe profitability of the pipeline extension to Poland, is due to work out a business plan and propose funding sources.

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From Warsaw Voice

"I asked him whether he was insured. He said yes, but not against vodka."
-Rafał Lasota, an employee of the Bemowo District Office, about a driver who bumped his car; according to a breathalyzer test, the man had 0.24-percent blood alcohol content

"The Polish tax policy looks like a sieve."
-Roman Giertych, leader of the League of Polish Families (LPR)

"After my hitchhiking experiences, I would not be able to support a strictly liberal policy. Also, I can now understand why the populists are so successful."
-Tadeusz Cymański, a deputy from Law and Justice (PiS), who says every year he gives some 100 hitchhikers a ride in the Coast region he comes from; he talks to them about the situation in the country without revealing his function

"The party now has to fight to survive the most difficult time when it can be thrown out into the street with impunity." [eviction is legal in warm months-ed.]
-From a commentary by the leftist daily Trybuna on the fact that the rightist mayor of Kielce has terminated an office lease contract with the local branch of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD)

"We intend to associate people who want to live and work here [in Poland] despite the fact that Polish reality is far from normal."
-Part of the manifesto of a new political grouping applying for registration, named the Party of Polish Freaks

"It turned out the man wanted to sit in a cool place, he was homeless and had all his belongings in the bag, and his supposedly dark skin resulted from dirt."
-A police officer from Płock, about a call from a worried local resident who noticed a suspicious "Islamic terrorist-looking" man with a bag sitting for about an hour in the local cathedral

"Cześć!"

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