Polish Consulate...

Wprost frontpages three Poles in their twenties, whose Tlenofon internet telephone system, is revolutionizing the Polish scene. The system, which is similar to Skype designed by two Scandinavians, offers local and intercity services 20 percent cheaper than the Polish Telecommunications giant TPSA. Connections with mobile phones are cheaper by one third and overseas calls are 90 percent cheaper. Cheap services are available to customers with a broadband access to the internet. An estimated 750,000 Poles have reached for the new medium and their number is expected to double in 2005. This will seriously undermine the dominant position of Polish Telecommunication, which withstood various de-monopolization efforts undertaken by the Competition and Consumer Protection Office and the Office for Telecommunication, as well as competition from new telephone operators, says Wprost.

Newsweek writes that Polish supermarket workers are packing and heading for Britain following an announcement that TESCO wants staff for its shops on the isles. The trail to Britain was blazed by bartenders and nurses. Now, at least 2,000 out of Tesco’s 17,000 strong staff in Poland are ready to go. For them jobs such as that of a cashier in a discount market, which most Brits would turn town, are still attractive. So far, Britain seems to have benefited from the flow of foreign workers, if only for the fact that revenues from taxes and social insurance paid by the new immigrants exceeded 20 million pounds between May and September. What is more, contrary to earlier fears, the newcomers, of which Poles constitute 56 percent, are not abusing the British social welfare system, Newsweek reports.

Polityka continues its series on ethnic minorities in Poland, this time focusing on the Roma people. There are about 20,000 to 30,000 of them, representing four different groups. After the second world war, the communist authorities forced the nomadic Roma groups to settle, mainly in run-down districts or in council barracks on the outskirts of cities. Polish Roma people are gathering evidence now of how they were persecuted at that time. But today, new conflicts between Poles and Romanies break out and the latter claim that they are discriminated against. Indeed, the majority of Roma people are jobless and live on the dole. Only one in three has completed primary education, only several hundred are secondary school graduates. A government program of aid to the Roma concentrates on social welfare. This year, for the first time the Polish Roma Union and the Polish Legal Education Association allocated scholarships to 40 Roma students, more than half of them women.

Newsweek writes that several hundred difficult German teenagers are undergoing therapy in Poland, as part of a German experiment started in 1991. The idea is to send problem youth abroad, far from their pathological environment, close to nature, to enable them to reflect and build new social ties. There are several centers in Poland accepting young Germans – drug addicts, petty thieves, young prostitutes – in addition to families who receive 800 euros a month for taking care of problem children. This might seem good business, but the snag is that the children notoriously run away from home, steal and cause trouble. A sad example is 17 year old Andreas, who seriously beat his counselor, raped a girl and ran away with a friend, or 16 year old Klaudia, who went to bed with half of the men in the neighborhood. Still, research shows that therapy in Poland is effective in 70 percent of cases, whereas it is reported that almost 80 percent of young offenders who receive custodial sentences, sooner or later land behind bars again.

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Warsaw, Nov. 28: Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said he was "moderately pleased" with round table talks in Kiev between Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma, the country's PM Viktor Yanukovych and opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko. The talks were called to help appease Ukraine's political crisis caused by presidential election, whose result the country's opposition has rejected as faked. Kwasniewski, who mediated in the debates together with Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Russian parliament speaker Boris Gryzlov, said the meeting had turned out "better than expected" but added that much still had to be done before the issue was resolved. I do not exclude another meeting in Kiev soon, Kwasniewski said. According to Kwasniewski the biggest success of the talks is a declaration on the non-use of violence in the conflict adopted by the Ukrainian government and opposition. Asked about the meeting's final declaration, Kwasniewski said it "resolved nothing but provided options for further action". Yushchenko, the opposition candidate in the questioned ballot, said after the meeting that his side was ready for a repeated second election round provided Ukraine's electoral laws are changed to give both candidates equal chances. The Ukrainian parliament passed a no-confidence vote in the country's Central Electoral Commission which was in charge of last week's vote.

Warsaw, Nov. 26: Polish Ombudsman Andrzej Zoll in an appeal to the Ukrainian Supreme Council's Human Rights Spokesman Nina Karpachova called for the employment of "appropriate legal means" in eliminating electoral violations in Ukraine. In his appeal Zoll underscored that Poles and Ukrainians were increasingly concerned over irregularities in the Ukrainian presidential election. In this situation you as Ukraine's Ombudsman have the choice of appropriate legal means to prevent further violations of electoral standards, Zoll wrote. Zoll also appealed to Council of Europe human rights commissioner Alvaro Gil-Robles to exert pressure on Ukraine to adhere to internationally - accepted electoral standards.

Warsaw, Nov. 26: There will not be major problems with carrying out the 2005 budget plan, Finance Minister Miroslaw Gronicki said. "It is a tight budget, but wasn't every budget difficult. This is a realistic budget," he said. The Sejm voted 227 to 196 with one abstention to pass the 2005 budget plan. "We have the budget that ensures sensible functioning of the state next year. There will be no problems with putting it into practice," Gronicki said.

Jerusalem, Nov. 28: Chief of General Staff of the Polish Army general Czeslaw Piatas started a four-day visit to Israel at the invitation from his Israeli counterpart general Mose Jalon, the Israeli army said in a statement. General Piatas will meet with Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz and Israeli officers to discuss regional security, the statement said. Minister Mofaz visited Poland in mid-November. During the visit the Polish ground forces received the first batch of Israeli made anti-tank Spike missiles. The ground forces will get 264 launchers and 2,675 guided missiles by 2013 as well as training gear.

Warsaw, Nov. 28: General Waldemar Skrzypczak will replace general Andrzej Ekiert as commander of the Polish-led multinational division in south-central Iraq as of January 2004, deputy defence minister Janusz Zemke told. The replacement is part of the staff rotations to take place in the Polish-controlled zone at beginning of 2005. The Polish contingent taking up service in Iraq at the beginning of 2005 will be considerably smaller but much better equipped, among others with 140 armoured vehicles and 6 Mi-24D armoured choppers, Zemke said. Polish soldiers in Camp Babylon received 12 humvee vehicles (High Mobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled Vehicle) from the U.S. In the coming days they are to receive 19 more. The U.S. defence department decided to give the vehicles to Polish Iraq forces in early November.

Warsaw, Nov. 28: Five Polish soldiers were slightly injured in central Iraq in a car accident, spokesman for the Chief of General Staff colonel Zdzislaw Gnatowski told. The accident occurred around near the town of Abu Gharaq, some 10 kilometers northeast of Hillah and did not involve any contact with the enemy, colonel Artur Domanski, the spokesman for the Polish-led international force in central Iraq. The five troops were taken to the Polish military hospital in the city of Karbala with injuries to their elbows, thighs and hands. After treatment two soldiers returned to their duties.

Warsaw, Nov. 28: Over 600 people visited the Polish Press Agency (PAP) during an Open Day on November 27. The visitors were shown how PAP functions, including a tour of the agency's "heart", the newsroom. They also had a unique opportunity to speak with reporters and learn the arcana of the journalistic profession. On show were pre-war newsreels shot by the then Polish Telegraph Agency (PAT), unique photographs from Central Photographic Agency (CAF) archives and equipment once used by Polish Press Agency (PAP) reporters. PAP's Open Day was part of the agency's 85th anniversary celebrations. The Polish Telegraph Agency (PAT) was founded in 1918, after the war it functioned for many years in London. It closed down in 1991 with a symbolic merger with PAP.

Warsaw, Nov. 26: Poland's Business Intelligence (BI) market is worth 28.5 million USD and is growing at a 30-percent annual rate, International Data Corporation analyst Tomasz Sloniewski said at IDC Business Intelligence Roadshow 2004 conference in Warsaw. BI systems allow the processing of corporate data from other IT systems, they are also used to generate company reports and surveys. Sloniewski said Poland's BI market was still small but growing fast. BI systems are mainly used by large banks, telecom operators and insurers, although increasingly more commercial companies are switching to them today, he explained. International Data Corporation is one of the world's leading telecom market surveyors with 700 analysts in 50 countries.

Warsaw, Nov. 26: 2004 will likely see a significant raise in agricultural revenues for the first time in the last seven years, chiefly thanks to Poland's integration with the EU, according to the authors of the report "Polish countryside after EU entry" that was presented in Warsaw. Production effectiveness in agriculture improved in recent years but price relations were unfavourable for agriculture, the report said. In 2004 price relations in agriculture improved, and 1.4 million farms will receive direct payments from the EU. In the first month after the integration exports of farm produce and foodstuffs to the EU rose 25 percent. By mid-2004 over 20 thousand agreements on SAPARD-financed projects were signed. The number of ecological farms is on the rise in Poland, it tripled in three years to some 2,000 in 2003. 38.2 percent of Poland's population inhabited rural areas in 2002, which is more than in most EU countries. In 2002 surplus of migration from urban to rural areas was 18,000 people. The role of agriculture as the main source of earning one's living is systematically decreasing. Only 17.6 percent of rural areas inhabitants support themselves exclusively or nearly exclusively from farming. Over 19 million hectares, or 62 percent of Poland's area is used for agricultural purposes. Close to 95 percent of arable land is in the hands of private owners. Fallow land, unused meadows and pastures account for over 3 million hectares, or close to 19 percent of arable land. From spring 2003 to spring 2004 moods were very bad in Poland, with dwellers of rural areas showing even bigger pessimism than the rest of population. From February 2004 moods improved in rural areas, including attitude to the EU following the inflow of EU funds as part of the SAPARD programm, rise in prices of many products sold by farmers, close prospects of the inflow of direct payments and other EU funds.

Warsaw, Nov. 26: Twenty-six percent of Poles in a CBOS poll consider the United States a true ally of Poland, 44 percent believe Poland should be wary of Russia, 35 percent of Germany. Forty-nine percent named no country as a proven ally. Eighteen percent said Poland was most endangered by the Muslim countries and terrorism, 40 percent named Iraq, terrorism and Arabs, 27 percent Russia and 21 percent Germany. Six percent claimed Poland had no enemies. CBOS ran the poll from September 17-21 on a random group of 935 adult Poles.

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Poland Goes Orange In Support Of Free Ukraine

Successive Polish cities are joining an action of support for Ukrainian opposition. The Gdansk city council unanimously adopted an appeal to the Ukrainian authorities for a peaceful solution of the conflict. The councilors supported the Ukrainian people’s struggle for self-determination and a sovereign election of their president. They pinned orange ribbons, symbols of freed and independent Ukraine, to their suits. Support for Ukraine’s democratic forces was expressed in a similar resolution by the Kielce city council.
An orange banner was unfolded on the Palace of Culture, one of the major buildings in downtown Warsaw. Flags and banners have appeared on monuments, towers and cars in Poland. More and more people are wearing orange scarves and hats as well as ribbons pinned to their coats as an expression of solidarity with the Ukrainian opposition.

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From Warsaw Voice

"I became irritated by the attitude of my mother who gives money to the church with wild abandon, forgetting about her unemployed son and his needs."
-A 35-year-old man from Tychy, explaining why he went into a church, approached the altar and started to strangle the priest

"The PSL is a brand like Coca-Cola, it's a big deal; whoever wants to change it, has no concept at all or is being counterproductive."
-Jan Bury, a delegate to the convention of the Polish Peasants' Party (PSL), on the recent ideas to change the party's name

"Intelligence is like a vacuum cleaner; it sucks up everything and spits out whatever it wants."
-Zbigniew Siemiątkowski, former head of the Intelligence Agency, on the controlled information leaked to the media

"In order to receive it, you have to be a representative of an ethnic minority, come from the most distant corner of the planet, a sexual pervert or at least write about all these perversions as if they were the norm."
-Bohdan Urbankowski, Ph.D., a literature expert and historian, on the Nobel Prize for Literature

"First he threatened the staff with a knife and forced them to give him vodka and beer; then he stormed into a dentist's office, forcing him to extract his aching tooth."
-A police officer from Katowice about a 26-year-old who is under arrest, waiting for a trial

"You were sent to us by the Lord and it's time to stop all this rubbish about elections; even talking about it is against the law."
-Murad Berdysopiyev, chairman of the association of Turkmen farmer, a People's Council deputy, who opposed the proposal extended by President of Turkmenistan Sapadmurad Niyazov to give up the principle of his lifetime presidency that was passed in 1999

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By Sławomir Majman
Warsaw Voice

It’s tough being a Pole in Europe. It’s tough, even after May 1.
Any Polish criticism of Poland’s Western neighbors, even if absolutely justified, opens up a carelessly tied bag of prejudice, uncovers huge layers of contempt, and then leads to the ultimate argument: “You Poles are ungrateful so-and-sos. The civilized West led you into the EU, and you have the audacity to hold something against the West.”

“Poland demands a lot and provides very little,” Mr. Ronald Vopel wrote to me from Brussels.
What happened? In my column “A Fragile Reconciliation” (TWV Oct. 31) I tried to take a look at the reasons why clouds had recently gathered over Polish-German reconciliation. I wondered why louder and louder voices could be heard from Berlin about equalizing the German war victims with the Polish victims, where some influential Germans are demanding compensation from Poland, observed in silence by some even more influential Germans. I saw the logic of the Polish Sejm calling for the government to negotiate war reparations from Germany. Not as a means of getting real money, but as an instrument for pointedly reminding the Germans about the historical truth. You see, there were German victims in the first place only because the huge majority of Germans had been Nazis or had supported Nazism, and had started a horrendous war with genocide as its goal. As the primary reason for the present worsened climate, I saw an obvious fact: today’s Germans have stopped being ashamed about the war, they no longer see themselves as a society of perpetrators, which has to cause a justified reaction on the Polish side, even if slightly too emotional. I also said the dreamy-eyed politicians had celebrated Polish-German reconciliation prematurely, because the Poles and the Germans have to wait for true reconciliation longer than the Germans and the French, due to the huge German blame towards Poland. Including the fact that the Polish and German victims of war suffered differently.

■ “It seems bizarre for someone from a nation that considers itself Christian to state that human suffering can be of different importance. The 250,000 incinerated in Dresden would certainly disagree,” Mr. Vopel writes.

I still refuse to agree to an equalization of the fate of Poles and Germans during the war and immediately afterwards. The Poles never came up with the idea to annihilate the German nation. The Poles didn’t attack Germany without warning, and didn’t blow up the whole of Berlin in cold blood, house after house. The Poles didn’t invent a precise system of terror to intentionally degrade the Germans, and ultimately to destroy them physically. The Poles never had such subtlety and inventiveness in them, no such thoughts arose in their unkempt peasant heads, not even right after the war, when on a wave of temporarily uncontrolled spasms of revenge and in the confusion of postwar anarchy, the German victims of displacement appeared.

The bombing of Dresden wasn’t the cause of the war between Germany and the Allies. It was the effect of the Germans’ deep, fanatical and widespread support for the criminal war that had been started by the Führer and the German nation. And that’s what it was punished for, and the punishment also included displacement.

The matter is difficult and delicate, because speaking of German victims we are speaking about human suffering. “The displacement of Polish and German civilians had different historical and political contexts. Nevertheless, from the perspective of the individual, one can speak of a community of fate shared by those—innocent—Poles and Germans,” wrote Gerhard Gnauck in Die Welt. I’m sorry, but I cannot agree to a community of fate of the Polish and German displaced. There is no such community, and there is no shared Polish-German perspective on it.

“In 1942 Dr. Brandt from the department of health, during his rounds in a Jewish hospital in Warsaw, upon learning about the state of the patients’ health conducted an immediate selection with a shot to the head of the seriously ill patients. In this, he asked the female prison doctor who accompanied him if she agreed with his diagnosis,” wrote Polish intellectual Grzegorz Lasota during the debate on the displaced. “He came from Wrocław and was taken prisoner, resettled to Siberia, where he died. The female doctor accompanying him on his rounds had been resettled to Treblinka. Just for one day. After that, she was gassed to death and incinerated. She was my mother.”
And that’s it, Mr. Vopel.

■ “EU member states work together to built a future, not discuss endlessly the past, although they have to be aware of the past and in this respect Poland may want to look a bit deeper into its own militaristic and anti-Semitic past,” Ronald Vopel admonishes.

To set matters straight—it wasn’t the Poles, in a failure to understand the essence of European cooperation, who started the dispute about the displaced. The dispute emerged when the last German taboo was broken—when it stopped being shameful in Germany to speak out loud about the Germans as victims of World War II. This was the disappearance of a taboo existing since the 1960s, when thanks to the public trials of Nazi criminals, which revealed the truth about war crimes to German youth of the time, and thanks to the life’s mission of the charismatic Willy Brandt, a sense of guilt and penance began to dominate among the Germans.

It’s been a phenomenon of recent years that expulsion has found a lasting place in the German historical pantheon, and the issue of the expelled has stopped being a factor that divides generations, and separates the German left from the right—it has become a shared, uniting experience. That’s why the idea of Erika Steinbach, leader of the Union of the Expelled, to build a Center of the Expelled in Berlin, has gained the support of those who would have unhesitatingly rejected it just a few years ago—prominent SPD politicians.

The center was to document the fate of the German victims, and whatever the defenders of this Bundestag-supported idea may say, it would be a monument to the ignominy of countries that displaced the Germans after the war, a mausoleum to the great wrong done to the Germans.

It turns out, though, that the Poles should not only give up any disputes concerning the past, even if these are revived by the German side, but as a “bad player in Europe” they should even beat their breasts.

I wonder what militaristic past it is that Poland has? Is the proof in the defensive wars against the Germans and Soviets in the 20th century? The last aggression on the part of Poland happened early in the 17th century, and it was a magnates’ expedition to Moscow. The Russian Duma recently tried to turn the anniversary of its defeat into a new state holiday. Anyway, let it rest... I’m prepared to bow in humility for the march upon Moscow on the same day that Queen Elizabeth II apologizes to the Saxons for the Battle of Hastings.

Strangely enough, the Polish state from before the partitions was not formed as a result of conquests, but was the effect of a union signed between the Polish Kingdom and Lithuania, which at that time also encompassed today’s Belarus, Ukraine and western Russia. What other European power from past centuries could boast that it was formed without an ocean of blood, conflagration and burnings at the stake? Meanwhile, the history of the Polish Commonwealth of Nations, which survived until the end of the 18th century, fits beautifully into the new European tradition. Though probably nobody in Brussels knows anything of that history.

■ Mr. Vopel, as soon as Poles start complaining about anyone, there pops up the argument of the traditional Polish anti-Semitism.
Was there ever anti-Semitism in Poland? Of course there was. Due to its intensification in the gloomy 1930s, escalating to paranoia, during the war a sizable proportion of Polish people accepted the tragedy of the Jews with indifference, and apart from some wonderful acts of heroism, simple human sympathy was in short supply. That’s why the Jews died alone. This isn’t about bookkeeping, but we mustn’t forget that in no other country of Nazi-occupied Europe were so many people involved in helping the Jews, jeopardizing their own and their families’ lives.

Is there any anti-Semitism in Poland? Yes, there is. It’s mostly the deaf and ignorant anti-Semitism of ordinary, good people. But it is in Poland, after years of disgusting silence, that a great deal is being done to settle accounts with the anti-Semitic tradition.

Let’s be fair—if we are to reproach the Poles with anti-Semitism on every occasion, then let’s also reproach Austria and France—the homelands of modern-day anti-Semitism, or even the Netherlands, where local fascists contributed greatly during the war to the final solution of the Jewish issue.

“Poland demands a lot and provides very little.” These are bold words, coming from a professional European.

Poland didn’t join the EU to sit meekly in the last row, hanging with a silly smile upon every word uttered by its marvelous elder classmates.

Poland is contributing its dynamism, its economic growth that the old EU can only dream of, and stability at Europe’s eastern frontier.

If anyone in Brussels still thinks the EU accepted the new members as an act of compassion even though they didn’t deserve it, then what was the point, Mr. Vopel?

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Warsaw, Nov. 23: "From the beginning Poland had said that the presidential election would be a test for the Ukrainian democracy and would determine Ukraine's credibility with world countries. Unfortunately, we cannot say that the result of this test is satisfactory," said president Aleksander Kwasniewski. "Our country is deeply convinced that the future of Ukraine and its position in the world depends not so much on the choice of a concrete candidate for president, but on the observance of international standards and the way in which its president is selected. Honest vote calculation and transparency of the present elections are of fundamental importance," Kwasniewski said. He appealed to president Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine to start dialogue with the two presidential contenders, PM Viktor Yanukovych and former PM Viktor Yushchenko, with a view to coming out of the impasse. The dialogue could be held in cooperation with international organisations: the Council of Europe and the EU represented by Javier Solana.

Warsaw, Nov. 23: President Aleksander Kwasniewski met in Warsaw with Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis for talks on Ukraine, Poland's chairmanship of the Council of Europe and preparations to the Council's summit in Warsaw next May. Kwasniewski congratulated Terry on his September accession to the Council of Europe chair.

Warsaw, Nov. 23: The Standing Committee of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly discussed the situation in Ukraine during its session in the Polish Sejm. Opening the debates Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz stressed that "numerous incidents unacceptable in the democratic elections" took place during the presidential runoff. "I fear a political crisis in the Ukraine in consequence of ill prepared and improperly carried out elections. This can have far reaching consequences for the democratic system in that country, and for its internal cohesion," he stressed. Cimoszewicz expressed the hope that force would not be used by either side in the dispute. He called on the Ukrainian authorities for restraint and responsibility and for the outcome of the election to reflect true results.

Brussels, Nov. 23: The head of the European Parliament's delegation of observers to the Ukrainian presidential election Marek Siwiec called for a verification of the election results by the Ukrainian election commission and Ukrainian law courts. He went on to present figures on the turnout and number of votes cast for each candidate in the second round of voting. He claimed the figures supported the thesis that there had been violations which had an influence on the result of elections. A spectacular increase in the turnout in many voting districts (Crimea, Donetsk, Zaporozhe, Kharkov, Sevastopol) was accompanied by a firm increase in support for Viktor Yanukovych, Siwiec argued. One could hardly treat this as coincidence, he added. The situation in Ukraine was extremely dangerous, he went on. A continued absence of dialogue could lead to a clash. "There are many ways to win an election, but governing is possible only on condition that there is a fundamental agreement on the outcome of the election and an elementary communication between those who won it and those who lost it," Siwiec concluded.

Warsaw, Nov. 23: Poland's border with Ukraine will be put under tighter control in view of the situation in the country after presidential election. We have to know what is happening on our border to Ukraine, if it'll be open or not and if there'll be more or less traffic across them. As interior minister I have to know such things, Kalisz said. According to Border Guard commander Jaroslaw Zukowicz no unusual incidents were recorded on the Polish-Ukrainian border.

Gdansk, Nov. 23: Former President and Solidarity leader Lech Walesa said he positively responded to Viktor Yushchenko's appeal to visit Kiev in the near future. In a letter sent to Walesa Yushchenko wrote that Ukrainian opposition needed now, as never before, to be supported by a representative of the international community. Walesa told he had to be careful as the problem concerned Ukraine's internal difficulties but did not rule out the possibility of paying the visit. He added he would have to meet with the outgoing president, the newly-elected one and the opposition candidate in presidential elections and that the meetings would have to be wisely organised. In a letter to Yushchenko Walesa wrote he understood the Ukrainian nation's desire to be free. Today I may only recommend peaceful actions to minimise tragedies that may happen in the present situation.

Warsaw, Nov. 23: Warsaw and Baghdad will become twin cities, Warsaw Mayor Lech Kaczynski and Bahdad Mayor Alan El Tamimi announced after talks. Alan El Tamimi who has come to Poland at the invitation of Polish businessmen told that he came here as the Mayor of Baghdad to thank personally the Polish government and Poles for Poland's commitment to the reconstruction of Iraq. The Baghdad Mayor added that 6 million residents of the Iraqi capital have many areas of cooperation to offer to the Varsovians. He recalled that the Iraqis have considerable experience in cooperation with Poles. One of Polish firms created a master plan for spatial development of Baghdad already in early 1980s. Alan El Tamimi said the Iraqi side wants to use Polish experience in reconstruction of the water supply system in Baghdad. Kaczynski declared he would like to organise an exhibition of Baghdad art in Warsaw.

Cracow, Nov. 23: About 10 thousand persons, including two thousand former inmates, are to attend the ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau former Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, southern Poland, scheduled for January 27, Secretary of the Council for the Protection of Memory of Combats and Martyrdom Andrzej Przewoznik told. The main ceremonies will be attended by six presidents, including those of Israel, Russia, France and Poland on January 27. The presidents of Israel, Poland and Russia will make speeches. The main celebrations will be broadcast live to many countries. An ecumenical prayer is envisaged in the programme and a composition specially written by Poland's Krzysztof Knittel for the occasion will be performed with the participation of American cantor Joseph Malovany. Apart from the main ceremonies a number of accompanying events will take place. A Charter of the International Centre for Teaching about Auschwitz and the Holocaust will be signed, and an Educational Forum on the Holocaust will be held in Cracow. The forum has been prepared by the Polish Culture Ministry in cooperation with the European Jewish Congress.

Warsaw, Nov. 23: Companies received public assistance worth a total of ca. 9 bn USD last year, said Cezary Banasinski, head of UOKiK competition regulatory authority. The assistance was 2.5 times bigger than in 2002 and the number of beneficiaries reached 85,000, he added. The marked rise in assistance last year resulted from the economic downturn and preparations for joining the EU, Banasinski explained at a press conference. It was chiefly large state-owned enterprises that consumed the bulk of the assistance last year.

Warsaw, Nov. 23: According to economy ministry estimates the GDP growth in the 3rd and 4th quarter will reach almost 5 percent and in the entire 2004 it will amount to 5.7 percent. A report on Poland's economic situation after the three quarters of 2004, published by the ministry on its web sites reads that the GDP grew by nearly 6 percent in the said period. The ministry estimates that between January and September home demand grew by 5.3 percent. Consumption in general rose by 3.3 percent and individual consumption went up by 3.9 percent. The ministry expects that exports and imports will grow at a quick pace.

Cracow, Nov. 23: Renovation work on the Renaissance Sigismund Chapel, the main chapel in Cracow's Wawel Castle, is almost complete. A ceremonious Holy Mass will take place in the chapel on December 8, after which it will be open to tourists. The renovation work took two years and cost almost 770,000 USD. The Sigismund Chapel was built by King Sigismund the Old in the first half of the 16th century, its architect was Italian Bartolomeo Berreci. Cleaning work on the chapel's brickwork was carried out by state-of-the-art laser techniques used for the first time in Poland.

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Polish President Appeals to Solve the Conflict

President Aleksander Kwasniewski has appealed to international organisations and authorities in Kiev to solve the crisis. The Polish head of state called on president Leonid Kuczma to undertake a dialogue with both candidates to the presidential post.Kwasniewski considers that such a dialogue between the authorities and the opposition should be conducted together with the Council of Europe and the European union. The president has conducted talks with representatives of the Council of Europe, European Union and the foreign ministry about the situation in Ukraine.

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Strong Winds and Heavy Snowfall in Poland

The fourth level of avalanche alert has been called in the Tatra mountains. The Tatra rescue services warn that any trips into the mountains are extremely dangerous. Heavy snowfall continues in the mountains, in the higher parts snow is already over one meter thick. The fourth penultimate avalanche alert means that the danger of snow masses moving embraces even low slopes.
Meanwhile the rest of the country is under the influence of strong gusty winds. Last week’s winds over Warsaw reached over 26 meters per second , which in the scale of Poland’s winds is defined as a hurricane. The gusts were even stronger on the coast , up to 35meters per second. Today’s winds have caused the greatest damage in the north of the country. In the Pomeranian district over 3 thousand households are cut off from electric supplies. In Slupsk in the north west the local port in Ustka has been destroyed .The storm has taken around 80% of the local beaches and quays. The damage is assessed at around one million zloty.

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Support For Poland's EU Membership On The Rise

Support for Poland’s EU membership has scored a record high this month. According to a recent poll conducted by the CBOS agency 77% of the respondents are happy with the fact of being in the EU.The CBOS analysts state that the support is not due to the fact of the payments EU subsidies to Polish farmers, support has been noted among different groups of society. The poll shows that 68% of the respondents intend to vote for the adoption of EU constitution in the national referendum, which is 12% more than in the July poll concerning the EU constitution.

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Iraq: Hungarian pullout could disable Polish zone

Warsaw, Nov. 17: Hungary's and Ukraine's pullout from Iraq could jeopardize Poland's entire operation, Polish deputy foreign minister Boguslaw Zaleski told commenting Hungary's decision to withdraw its Iraq forces. Both countries' troops form part of the Polish-led central-Iraqi stabilization force. The Hungarian parliament has recently refused to prolong the country's military presence in Iraq. Also Ukraine's presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko has pledged to withdraw all troops from Iraq if elected. 430 Hungarian troops are to return from Iraq by year's end. Zaleski said Hungary's and Ukraine's pullout combined with next year's planned 50-percent reductions of Polish troops could immobilize Poland's entire Iraq mission. Defence minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski agreed that Hungary's pullout from Iraq would cause "grave problems". The Hungarians are responsible for transport within the force. Now that they're going home we'll have to see about the future of the whole operation, Szmajdzinski said. One of the proposed solutions involves the takeover of the Polish zone by the new Iraqi government after the January-planned elections and the Poles' further service in the country as a peacekeeping force. Poland has been in command of the central-Iraqi stabilization force and zone for the past 12 months.

Warsaw, Nov. 7: The Sejm's Foreign Affairs Committee passed an amended version of a resolution on Poland's Iraq mission without a clause stating that parliament expects Poland's withdrawal from the country after a January-planned government election. The Sejm sees international security, especially the fight with terrorism, as one of global society's priority goals. Poland should take active part in the war on terrorism under international agreements and through international organizations, and to an extent answering its military and economic potential and the strategic interests of the Polish state. The resolution has been also approved by the government.

Warsaw, Nov. 17: The Senate discussed an amendment to the law on the obligation of common defence of Poland giving the possibility of the use of Polish armed forces in case of threat to public security without the need of announcing an extraordinary state. In tune with the present legislature, the use of armed forces can take place only after the introduction of an extraordinary state. Senators supporting the amendment stressed that such solution would be a "guarantee of security" while opponents claimed it "sounds hostile."

Warsaw, Nov. 17: A committee of the council of ministers will meet to discuss the so-called "golden share" bill in a bid to maintain control over privatised companies, and then the item will be on the agenda of a cabinet meeting, Deputy Treasury Minister Przemyslaw Morysiak told. The bill, which amends the commercial code, will specify powers of the Treasury and the way they will be exercised at companies of "key importance to Poland's security, public order or safety." "Golden share" regulations will give the Treasury better control over strategic companies, or companies that either are or will be privatised. A list of companies covered by the law will be annually drawn up by a cabinet decree. Treasury-appointed observers will be responsible for blocking some management decisions. The list will include companies with an over 50 percent market share, such as fuel pipeline transmitting companies, oil and fuel storing companies, energy or gas transmitting companies, firms reloading fuels at sea ports, coal or copper ore producers or companies controlling over 50 pct of domestic railway infrastructure. In the case of energy and fuels producers the golden share rule will apply to companies with an over 15 pct and over 20 pct market share respectively. Other companies in which the Treasury wants to retain shareholder veto power are public TV and radio broadcasters. As the EC challenges special rights of Treasury ministries at companies, Poland wants to adopt regulations styled at Belgium the Commission has so far been unable to contest.

Strasbourg, Nov. 17: Poland can adjust its system of wastes' recycling to stricter EU standards until 2014 under a related directive adopted by the European Parliament. The parliament decided to grant transitory periods to new members as it would be impossible for them to reach the required level of 55 waster recycling as of 2009, like the 15 "old" EU states.

Szczecin, Nov. 17: Polish is gaining popularity in German cross-border areas. Difficult Polish grammar and spelling have been diligently studied mostly by German officials, retirees and those who come shopping to Poland. Participants in the courses admitted they decided to learn for it is important to understand their neighbours. Three times a year Germans from Pasewalk go to Szczecin where they can check their skills with Polish partners at a local language school. The cost of a course in Pasewalk costs 150 euros annually but 80 percent of the sum is covered by the EU.

Warsaw, Nov. 17: Deputy PM Jerzy Hausner said that the year-end inflation rate should fall to 4.2-4.3 percent. October's inflation rise should not cause interest rate hikes given expectations for inflation fall in the coming months. In October the annual inflation rate rose to 4.5 percent with the analysts expecting a fall to 4.3 percent. Hausner said that bringing down inflation to below 3 percent may take a longer time than expected.

Gdansk, Nov. 17: National Bank of Poland governor Leszek Balcerowicz said that Poland should adopt the euro as a matter of urgency. "It would be good for Poland to adopt the euro as fast as possible rather than delay the move," Balcerowicz said. "We have to meet the criteria anyway. Poland's finances are sick and we have to carry out a reform as fast as possible," he added. The government assumed that Poland would meet the Maastricht Treaty requirements in 2007. But in its recent report the EC questioned Poland's chances to lower the budget deficit to below 3 percent of the GDP in 2007 which would hinder Poland's adoption of the euro in 2009.

Warsaw, Nov. 17: The Church expects the Polish government to take an official stand on the UN Human Rights Committee's suggestion for Poland to relax its abortion laws, bishop Stanislaw Wielgus told after a sitting of a joint commission of government and episcopate representatives. The UN Human Rights Committee has recently recommended Poland to liberalize its abortion laws. Commenting the suggestion on November 8 in Warsaw, UN coordinator for Poland Jaime Ruiz de Santiago reminded that respecting human and family rights was "one of the fundamental duties of Poland and other countries". Prime ministerial chancellery head Slawomir Cytrycki, on the government side of the commission, assured he would inform Polish bishops about the government's position on the matter.

Warsaw, Nov. 17: Polish Humanitarian Action PAH plans to renovate a hospital in Vladycaucasus and turn it into a centre for medical, social and psychological rehabilitation for victims of the September 3 terrorist attack. A PAH worker will leave for Beslan, PAH's Justyna Stepien told. She substantiated the plan saying Moscow secured only temporary assistance for the victims and most of the medical staff has been recalled. The PAH centre will operate on a permanent basis, she said. The initial cost of renovation is estimated at 150,000 USD. According to Stepien donors have provided close to 272,000 USD following a PAH appeal. Since September PAH has cooperated with Besla Rebirth Foundation and Northern Ossetia health ministry.

London, Nov. 17: Poles are less in debt than citizens of other EU countries, the mean debt-to-assets ratio at 25 percent against the EU's 35 percent, PKO SA president Jan Krzysztof Bielecki has told. According to Bielecki Poles were more cautious in drawing loans than their EU counterparts, also Polish banks were more restrictive in their loan risk assessments. He also pointed to the high percentage of foreign currency loans, calling the almost 50-percent share of Swiss-franc loans in the Polish credit portfolio "controversial". What we need is a stable macroeconomic and monetary environment, low interest preferably calculated in zlotys, risk restrictions and more purchasing power in Polish households, Bielecki said. He added that with the exemption of co-operative banks the banking sector planned to meet Basel risk criteria by 2007.

Warsaw, Nov. 17: Eighty five percent of Poles want the number of Sejm deputies to be cut by half, 72 percent think it is necessary to set up single mandate constituencies in general elections and 55 percent believe it is necessary to liquidate the Senate. CBOS asked Poles about their opinion concerning the proposals forwarded by the Citizens Platform (PO) which has already collected over 400,000 signatures under a motion calling for a referendum on introducing four amendments to the Constitution. In order to forward a referendum motion it's necessary to collect 500,000 signatures. The party is calling for liquidating the Senate, cutting by half the number of deputies, setting up single mandate constituencies in general elections and liquidating parliamentary immunity. Only 7 percent of the respondents were against the proposal to cut by half the number of deputies and 8 percent against single mandate constituencies. The liquidation of the Senate was the most controversial issue as it was opposed by 26 percent. Forty five percent of Poles said the Constitution should be changed, 33 percent were against and 22 percent did not have any opinion concerning the matter. CBOS ran the poll on October 1-4 on a representative sample of 988 adult Poles.

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President celebrates 50th birthday, meets diplomats

Warsaw, Nov. 16: President Aleksander Kwasniewski celebrating his 50th birthday received words of recognition and congratulations from members of the diplomatic corps. The president addressing foreign diplomats at the Presidential Palace said that out of 50 years of his life he spent 9 years as president of Poland, the years which gave him numerous reasons for satisfaction, especially over Poland's development, NATO and EU membership and the passing of the national constitution. President Kwasniewski thanked for wishes he received and words of friendship and readiness for cooperation of heads of states represented by members of the diplomatic corps.

Warsaw, Nov. 16: Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski met with Finnish ex-president Martti Ahtisaarim, head of the Independent Commission for Turkey, and professor Bronislaw Geremek, who is on the commission. Present at the meeting was Finnish ambassador in Poland Jan Store. Ahtisaari and Geremek presented the Commission's report on Turkey's EU accession prospects. The Independent Commission for Turkey was founded in March of this year to assess Turkey's EU membership chances. On the commission besides Ahtisaari and Geremek are Kurt Biedenkopf, former president of Germany's Sachsen province, former French PM and current MEP Michel Rocard, and former Dutch foreign minister and EC member Hans van den Broek.

Warsaw, Nov. 16: Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz met with 13 Polish observers for the second round of presidential elections in Ukraine. Minister Cimoszewicz stressed that a proper execution of their mission will have a significant meaning for the evaluation of those elections. During the meeting, Minister Cimoszewicz briefed his guests on his recent visit to Ukraine.

Berlin, Nov. 16: Polish European Commissioner Danuta Huebner EU member-state governments to accelerate efforts aimed at turning the EU into the world's most competitive economic area by 2010. Speaking to the German newspaper "Financial Times Deutschland" she said that "all European governments should concentrate on the challenge, adding that the EC had done much to improve competitiveness." "But we are less satisfied with the hitherto performance of EU member-states," she said. In March 2000, the EC set out a ten-year strategy to make the EU the world's most dynamic and competitive economy. "Financial Times Deutschland" stressed that Huebner wanted to exert pressure on EU member-states not to abandon the strategy. In early November a group of independent experts chaired by former Dutch PM Wim Kok said in a report that EU member-state governments had not done enough to outdo the US. The Kok report concluded that the gap between Europe and Asia and North America had widened in the past five years. Huebner was critical of the course of negotiations on the EU financial framework for 2007-2013. Germany and other countries, that contribute more to the EU budget than receive, want to freeze spending at 1 percent of GDP. Huebner hoped that financial negotiations will be completed in the first half of 2005.

Warsaw, Nov. 16: Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski said that the future of the Iraqi operation after withdrawal of a Hungarian contingent would require consultation. "I believe we will have to remedy the situation together with the U.S. command. Also the General Staff is working on the issue. The Hungarian unit is part of the Polish-led Multinational Division Centre-South. The minister reiterated declaration to reduce the 2,500-strong Polish contingent in 2005.

Warsaw, Nov. 16: Poland is interested in Israel's experience in reservists training and the use of F-16 combat planes, said Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzidski in Warsaw. Szmajdzinski and his Israeli counterpart Saul Mofaz signed an annex to an agreement on bilateral cooperation. Szmajdzinski said both countries are interested in developing cooperation between their respective research and development centres. Details of cooperation will soon be discussed in Israel by the commander of the Polish air forces and chief of the Polish army general staff. Szmajdzinski stressed the importance of the situation in the region for Poland due to this country's involvement in U.N. missions and in Iraq. Mofaz expressed the hope that the Palestinian nation will elect a leader that will pave the way for peace and dialogue after the death of Yassir Arafat who accepted terrorism as a means for achieving political goals.

Lockheed Martin sees 1/3 of offset deals implemented in 2 yrs

Warsaw, Nov.16: Lockheed Martin expects that one third of its offset commitments under the F-16 supply contract for the Polish air force will be implemented in the first two years of the offset programme, said Philip Georgariou, LM's director in charge of Polish offset. His declaration came at meeting of the Sejm national defence committee. He said that press reports on alleged major delays in the implementation of the offset programme were exaggerated. Georgariou explained that his company met 17 offset commitments and filed for their approval to the tune of 1.2 bn USD. This accounts for 20 pc of total commitments. The LM official said that instead of 12 offset projects worth 150 m USD that proved impossible to implement the company proposed 9 other projects worth a total of 2 bn USD.

Poland, Germany to avoid double taxation

Warsaw, Nov. 16: Poland and Germany will exchange ratification documents concerning a Polish-German agreement on avoiding double taxation regarding income and property tax signed in Berlin in May 2003. The documents will be exchanged by Undersecretary of State at the Foreign Ministry Jakub Wolski and Ambassador of Germany to Poland Reinhard Schweppe on November 19. The agreement will take effect as of January 1, 2005.

Poland and Italy concur on EU sugar market reform

Warsaw, Nov. 16: Poland and Italy have concurrent opinions about a European sugar market reform and the Common Agricultural Policy, Agriculture Minister Wojciech Olejniczak said. Olejniczak met his Italian counterpart Giovanni Alemanno. Olejniczak said that both Poland and Italy believe that the sugar market reform in the EU should be spread out over many years. The two ministers were agreed that the reduction of sugar prices and sugar quotas should not be big. The processes should be taking place in such a way so as not to harm sugar beet production in a given country, they stressed. Alemanno presented Italy's position on genetically modified plants. He came out in favour of experiments on GMOs but advised caution in their mass production.

Warsaw preparing for European summit, pope's pilgrimage

Warsaw, Nov. 16: A summit of the Council of Europe in May and the expected June visit by Pope John Paul II will put Warsaw in the centre of European affairs for several days. Organizers of the May 16-17 summit expect the event will be attended by a large group of presidents and PM’s. Key summit events will be held at the Warsaw Royal Castle, Jerzy Pomianowski, foreign minister's commissioner, told. The summit is to be more open to general public as organizers are planning a number of concerts and exhibitions. A month later, Warsaw will welcome Pope John Paul II. Although a detailed programme of the pilgrimage is not yet ready as all depends on the pope's health condition, still organizers plan the pope will say mass at Warsaw's Wilanow borough on June 19.

Medals for promoting tolerance

Warsaw, Nov. 16: Film director Agnieszka Holland, president of the Jewish centre in Oswiecim Fred Schwartz of the USA and Jolanta Kwasniewska's foundation "Porozumienie bez barier" (Communication without barriers) are among this year's laureates of the "merited for tolerance" medals. The medals were handed by the "Tolerancja" (Tolerance) Ecumenical Foundation in a ceremony held in the Warsaw Jewish Theatre. Next to Schwartz, the group of foreign laureates also included Rudolf Decker of Germany and Emil Pain of Russia. The "Tolerancja" Ecumenical Foundation was set up in 1993 for the propagation of tolerance and respect for all, especially for religious, national, ethnic and cultural minorities.

PKN Orlen may buy Unipetrol in early 2005

Warsaw, Nov. 16: Buying the Czech oil company Unipetrol by PKN Orlen may be concluded in the first quarter of 2005, PKN Orlen management member Pawel Szymanski said. Szymanski added that PKN Orlen is in talks with the Czech competition office the Plock-based company had filed for permission to go ahead with a takeover. On June 4 the Czech government signed an agreement with PKN Orlen to sell the Polish company its 63 percent stake in Unipetrol, worth 480 mn USD.

Forests cover 28 pct of Poland's area

Poznan, Nov. 16: Poland's wooded area has been systematically increasing for the last 60 years. After the war it grew 6.5 percent to 28 percent of Poland's area, director general of the State Forests Janusz Dawidziuk said. He added that Polish forests are increasingly diversified with growing numbers of broadleaved trees which is good, e.g. for the furniture industry. He said that state owned forests account for 80 percent of all forests in Poland, the remainder are private forests.

Patriotism and national remembrance

Warsaw, Nov. 16: Forty-two percent of Poles in an OBOP poll measuring patriotism and reverence for national events declared that on All Saints' Day they not only visited family graves but also monuments to war victims and soldiers, 31 percent said they had a Polish national flag at home. Less than 10 percent admitted to hanging out national flags on Independence Day and other national holidays. Almost two-thirds knew that Poland's Independence Day commemorates the regaining of independence in 1918, 9 percent associated it with Poland's liberation from the Nazis, 4 percent with the fall of communism, 1 percent with the end of the Stalinist period. OBOP ran the poll between All Saints' Day (Nov. 1) and Independence Day on a random sample of 1,005 Poles over 15.

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Warsaw Honors Herbert Hoover In Exhibit

Herbert Hoover, the former U.S. president associated at home with the despair of the Great Depression, is remembered as a hero to Poles in an exhibit that has just opened in Poland’s capital. The show at Warsaw's Royal Castle, "American Friendship: Herbert Hoover and Poland," features photographs, letters and other exhibits that highlight his work to help orphans, impoverished Jews and the many other hungry Poles after both world wars. From 1919 to 1921, Hoover directed the American Relief Administration, an organization that raised private and government money to pay for relief efforts to Poland and elsewhere in Europe. "The Polish nation thanked Herbert Hoover for his humanitarian work, and for food, clothing and medicines, for rescuing millions of Poles from hunger, misery and disease," said Andrzej Rottermund, the director of the Royal Castle opening the exhibition. At home, critics called Hoover a cold-hearted leader who ignored the millions living in poverty on his watch, epitomized by tent cities nicknamed Hoovervilles.

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...saw the finest Polish Independence Day celebration that I have ever seen in Kidderminster.

We watched film of Independence Day in Warsaw and part of a Polish TV 'biopic' of Piłsudski.

Mrs Saternus decorated the main hall of the Polish Ex-Servicemens's Club in swaithes of white and red flags and carnations.

Guests included Kidderminster Mayor Siri Hayward and Mel, Wyre Forest District Council Chairman John Simmonds and wife, Conservative Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Mark Garnier and his wife, Liberal Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Fran Oborski (who was generally kept locked up in the kitchen) and of course local MP Dr Richard Taylor and his wife.

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Polish Batle of Britain Fighter Ace Dies

General Stanislaw Skalski, Poland’s top fighter ace from the Second World War and a participant in the Battle of Britain, died in a Warsaw military hospital. He was 89. Serving in the Polish air force, Skalski shot down a German reconnaissance plane on September 1, 1939, the day Nazi Germany started the war by invading Poland. Some historians also credit him with the first aerial victory against the Germans. Born on October 27, 1915, in the village of Kodyma, he graduated from Polish pilot training school in 1938 .After the war, Skalski returned to Poland, where he was jailed and sentenced to death by the communist authorities on allegations he was a Western spy. He spent eight years on death row, before being cleared and released in 1956. He earned Poland’s highest military honour for bravery, the Virtuti Militari. In the 1980s he tried with little success to enter politics, joining several left-wing parties.

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I watched the British Legion Festival of Remembrance on TV tonight. They told the stories of specific villages. One was Monte Cassino. They talked of how it was taken after "Allied assaults" and showed "Commonwealth War graves".

No offence was intended. They have no idea why many Polish veterans will be upset or why that campaign is special to Poles.

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A story for...
INDEPENDENCE DAY - NOVEMBER 11th

Two dear little ones are sitting by me and begging for a tale. So I will tell the ladies and gentlemen a tale for children and grown-ups alike. "As much happiness as in a dream, as much truth as in a song." So one man wrote, and we who read sometimes believe him and sometimes not. But today I tell you truly that there are charms and spells, so long as we are happy. Once I saw a crowd of children bending over something on the ground. Wondering what they could find to look at in a dirty courtyard, I espied a little frog. Filthy and frightened the frog hopped clumsily on its long legs and glared at the children with its goggle eyes.

"What are you gazing at?" I asked the little ones. One lad answered that he had read of a frog which was jumping about in the dirt, but suddenly by charms and spells, there came a great golden chariot drawn by six big horses. Six big lackeys held their bridles, and from the chariot ladies alighted dressed too gorgeously for words. They took a box from the chariot, and – oh! Charms and spells! – the frog turned suddenly into a magic maiden, with lovely eyes and countenance.

The maiden looked at herself and marvelled. For her robes were gleaming with pearly-white and rose colour shot with gold and silver. Snow-white stockings covered her legs, which had been red with gold, but now were so warm that they gleamed like white marble through the silk. The dirty frog, transformed into a charming maiden took her place in the chariot and drove to a great white palace. The parquet mirrored her beauty, and maidens yellow with envy, whispered that she was an evil changeling. So there are charms and spells when a maiden is happy. They say that on earth there are no such tales.

I do not know if fairy-tales are true, but it is true that there are charms and spells when one is happy. I have heard with my own ears, I have seen with my own eyes, I have touched with my own fingers such charms and spells that of them I fear to speak. None of us, indeed, may have seen the dear child who was picking strawberries and suddenly espied a forest where, instead of branches, the trees grew cakes, ready to break off and eat. Who has seen the child who, as he hopped, found himself in an enchanted garden where magic birds chirped joyously between themselves? Or the dear girl in that garden where big juicy pears came of their own accord to her lips, and red apples dropped into her pocket? Such, I believe, exist, and I will tell you about the wonder of wonders that I have touched and seen.

On a bright November day, not many years ago, along a road drowned everywhere in mud, a short grey serpent of lads big and small pressed forward. Like the clumsy frog, they wearily stumbled on, often stamping with frozen legs on the grey and marshy track. Poor fellows! They were hunched up and trembling with cold, their eyes dimmed by a toilsome night and many toilsome days. Their feet, soaked through their worn-out, mud-caked shoes, stumbled over the ground, lingering as though they clung to it for a moment’s rest. On the eleventh of November, they found themselves somewhere under the walls of Krakow. Before them rode another lad – rode on a young chestnut with a white-starred head.

The chestnut, daughter of the meadows, went mincingly into the town whence came those ragged lads, who now, as dirty as the earth itself, marched in. They had marched the whole night long, with death always staring them in the face. They had marched through the gate of death, through its strait and stifling portal. Like the frog, they longed to stumble into safety – safety within the walls of Krakow. But the country chestnut with the hairless head gazed on the city with disgust. When she reached the first houses, a scarecrow lorry came along, groaning and hissing, and she jibbed in terror. The lad upon her back caressed her and began to tell her of charms and spells. "Fear not, chestnut," he murmured, "you are going into the capital, where thousands will gaze upon your lovely neck and golden hair." For in Krakow there are charms and spells when a lad is happy, whether they be in the twin-towered church, or in the mighty bell, or in the crypt where kings for ever sleep, or in the hero’s or the poet’s tomb.

Not many years passed by, and the same chestnut gazed upon the same city on a new eleventh of November. Charm on charm and spell on spell – where were the grey and dirty lads, and where their leader? The same leader, but see how he has changed! On his breast as many stars as there are countries in the world. Trumpets and drums sounded as the infantry, in their steel helmets, marched firmly by, and the heavy guns made the windows rattle as they passed. An enchanted world, transformed!

But my time is up, and I must close with a wish for the next eleventh of November. Even if the month brings storms which roar in the chimney and shriek of death and terror, I know that restoration of the body and the soul’s rebirth give strength and beauty. In them we find an inward warmth which baffles the damp and poison. And may you smile then as on the magic eleventh of November in 1918! May the autumn sun burn your cheeks and a gentle breeze cool them, and may we laugh together from happiness at being great-souled and reborn! This, men and women and dear children, I wish you all.

- Marshal Jozef Pilsudski

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The official state ceremonies for Independence Day are held in Warsaw, though many other Polish towns and cities also organise holiday gatherings and celebrations. They are accompanied by military parades and traditional exhibitions of military riding exercises, which always evoke the crowd's greatest interest thanks to their spectacular character. The November festivities in Cracow, the old capital of Poland, are especially important symbolically, due to the city's ancient tradition of independence.

The date November 11th 1918 was a turning point in European history. On this day the armistice signed by Germany ended the First World War. For Poles this was especially significant, as Poland now regained its sovereignty after 123 years of dependence. The outbreak of the First World War in 1914, in which two of Poland's partitioning powers fought against the third partitioner, had reawoken Polish hopes of regaining independence. Many Poles joined units under particular partitioning powers when they promised to assist in restoring Polish independence after the war in return for Polish support. Józef Piłsudski was the commanding officer at the head of one such unit. In the course of the war Piłsudski became a new moral leader for Poles. Interned by the Germans, Piłsudski outlined his strategy in his Magdeburg statement towards the end of the war. On his release he returned to Warsaw, where the Regency Council transferred all military power to him. At the same time news that troops had laid down their arms on the Western front led to a spontaneous laying down of arms in the east, and Poland's proclamation of independence. November 11th thus became Poland's National Independence Day. Shortly afterwards, the Regency Council decided to disband and transferred all state powers to Piłsudski, instituting the office of Head of State. Józef Piłsudski is one the greatest figures in Poland's 20th-century history. Many main streets and squares in all the major cities of the country, as well as the square in Warsaw on which Independence Day celebrations are held, have been named after him.

In Communist Poland, November 11th was not celebrated, in fact its celebration was prohibited. On this day, however, clandestine commemorations were held in churches and places of national remembrance.

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From Radio Polonia

Yet another title has hit the bookstores detailing forgotten moments from Poland’s often-dramatic history. And the success of A Question of Honor, by Lynne Olson and Stanley Cloud shows that books about Poland’s past are becoming hot property in the publishing business.

November 11 – Independence Day - is a national holiday in Poland. Nothing unusual about that – Poland has quite a lot of national holidays. This one though is of particular interest to all those who, like me, love Polish history. November 11, 1918, was the day that Poland won back, not just her independence, but also her place on the map of Europe. For well over one hundred years the country had simply ceased to exist, gobbled up as it was by three competing European empires.

And then World War I came to an end, the empires collapsed, and Poland’s history could start again.

So Independence Day here is a time when Poles look back over their shoulder at the past, while at the same time keeping one eye on the future (Poles, I should add, have developed contortionist talents that make this complicated, and slightly uncomfortable position entirely possible.)

But Polish history is not just of interest to Poles. Historians, particularly in the English-speaking world, have showed an increasing interest in this country, and the books they write are selling very well the world over.

There has also been a noticeable shift in the way that historians are writing and thinking about Poland. Polish history is being subjected to many revisions.

Lynne Olson and Stanley Cloud’s A Question of History is subtitled: the Kosciuszko Squadron, forgotten heroes of World War II. The Kosciuszko Squadron were Polish fighter pilots who fought alongside the RAF during the Battle of Britain and other famous airborne scraps with the Nazis. The squadron accounted for nearly 20% of the damage inflicted on the Luftwaffe during the six years of war.

But the book tells us much more than that. For instance, it throws a well-aimed jab at the reputation of Winston Churchill.

Britain’s finest ever cigar smoker has a special place in British history, of course – he was voted Greatest Ever Briton by a BBC poll quite recently. And this is an opinion he would probably have agreed to himself – modesty was not one of his is many attributes. He once told someone that; “History will be kind to me – for I intend to write it.“

And write history he did - six volumes of the stuff, in fact.

But while Churchill pays Poland many compliments in these volumes – a work that he won the Nobel Prize for – there are passages where he claims that, “They doomed themselves by their follies to awful slaughter and miseries.”

The authors of A Question of Honor, on the other hand, show how Poland’s main allies during the war - Britain, France, and the US – were the ones that condemned Poland to misery at the hands of the Soviets – a position the country found itself in after being handed over to Stalin by Britain, France and the US. Churchill and Roosevelt didn’t want to upset Stalin when he demanded at the Potsdam and Yalta conferences that Poland should be given to him.

Poland’s contributions to the Second World War were many, varied and important. Apart from the activities of the Kosciuszko Squadron, 200.000 troops fought alongside the allies in North Africa and Europe; Polish code breakers made the initial breakthroughs in cracking the Nazi’s Enigma code – a feat that contributed to shortening the war and saving many lives; Poland was the only country during the war that was occupied but never surrendered or collaborated, and Poland was also the only country which fought the war from the first day to the last.

And the authors ask a very important question: If Poland’s contributions to the war effort were so important then why have these achievements been neglected up until comparatively recently?

Someone once said that the history of wars are written by the ones who win those wars. So the allies, maybe through the guilt of their connivance, conviniently left out some awkward facts concerning Poland and how it ended up in the lap of Stalin. After 1945 Poland’s history was effectively left to the Soviets to write.

But since the Soviet Union has become the geo-political equivalent of the dodo bird, and, in 1989, Poland finally regained her independence for real, its history has started to emerge as it should be written - with all the awkward bits put back where they should be.

(For more about A Question of Honor by Olson and Cloud, see their excellent web site at www.questionofhonor.com)

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From Warsaw Voice...

“When he was hit, he touched his chest, sensed warmth, and fainted, thinking he was shot and this was blood.”
- A representative of the election staff of Viktor Yanukovych, Ukrainian presidential candidate, on why he was driven to hospital after a 17-year-old hit him with an egg at an election rally

“Fifty years ago, these nice old German men raised from their bratwurst, wiped the beer off their mustaches and came around to murder Poles.”
- Michał Kamiński, a European Parliament deputy from the Law and Justice (PiS), on excursions of German retirees traveling to western Polish provinces

“They told me I had to pay because the thief might cause an accident.”
- Krzysztof Cierniak, a Cracow resident, whom PZU insurance company wants to pay the obligatory civil liability insurance premium for his car that was stolen five months earlier

“It’s a very simple drink: it’s enough to mix spirits and beet juice, in random proportions.”
- A bartender in a Toruń club, on a cocktail named after Samoobrona leader Andrzej Lepper; a reference to the derogatory term burak
(beet) applied by Poles to narrow-minded, classless people Compiled from press reports

posted by: Oborski at 17:59 | link | comments |

Warsaw, Nov. 4: President Aleksander Kwasniewski congratulated U.S. President George W. Bush on his re-election on behalf of Poland, the government and his own. President Kwasniewski stressed that the re-election mirrors trust the American society placed in President Bush. According to the Polish president credit for this confidence can be attributed to the U.S. president's decisive stand in difficult and tragic times as well as to his perseverance in pursuing a clear and coherent vision of his office and total war on terrorism. Kwasniewski thanked the U.S. president for his personal contribution in shaping Polish-U.S. cooperation and expressed the confidence that the strategic partnership of Poland and the U.S. would be strengthened during the second term of Bush's office. The U.S. president confirmed that settlements reached during a visit of PM Marek Belka to Washington would be implemented according to guidelines. George W. Bush thanked for congratulations and said he highly regarded Poland for support granted to the stabilisation mission in Iraq. He announced the continuation of international consultations within the coalition and outside of it. Referring to the international situation President Kwasniewski pointed out to the need for new U.S. initiatives, in the field of cross-Atlantic relations toward all EU states and in particular France and Germany. The U.S. president thanked for the suggestion and said that the U.S. administration would undertake proper actions in this respect. Both presidents said they hoped for being able to meet in near future. Meanwhile, Senate Speaker Longin Pastusiak sent a congratulatory cable to Richard Cheney, the President of the U.S. Senate in connection with George Bush's re-election. Pastusiak expressed the hope that Bush's second term would be a good time for cooperation between Poland and the U.S. especially due to Bush known commitment to the future of Central and Eastern Europe. The Polish speaker said he hoped for his U.S. counterpart to pay a visit to Poland.

Cracow, Nov.4: Consultations between several countries and a search for compromise were needed on the EU budget for 2007-2013, according to PM Marek Belka. The budget was one of the topics discussed by Belka and the visiting Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany. "We decided that we should find a sort of a compromise not only between Poland and Germany, but also between several groups of countries that clearly have somewhat differing interests and attitudes," Belka told. "To ensure that the debate goes on smoothly we resolved to set up a system of consultations to embrace several countries," the PM added. The consultations were meant to help "define, smooth out, adjust standpoints and search for compromise solutions," he added. "I believe that if we manage to reach agreement among a few important countries the process of building a new financial perspective will progress without major hindrances and delays," Belka opined. The EU budget for the years 2007 to 2013 is a matter of major controversy between net payers and the EU Commission.

Cracow, Nov. 4: There is no legal path for Germans re-settled by the Potsdam agreement to claim compensations, PM Marek Belka told reporters at a joint press conference with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. The two politicians met to attend the 7th Polish-German inter-governmental consultations. Belka said that Polish and German experts led by former Poland's ambassador to Austria Professor Jan Barcz and expert in international law from Heidelberg Professor Jochen Frowein issued an analysis of compensation claims. Belka emphasized that attempts to win related suits in Poland, Germany or before international courts were bound to fail. "It would be a waste of time and energy," said the Polish PM and appealed to those willing to go to courts in Poland or Germany to reconsider their decisions. Gerhard Schroeder underscored that the analysis was "accurate, close and profound" and its conclusions left no room for doubts. He added that this had long been the position of both governments and would be presented to all. Both politicians stressed several times that the issue of compensation claims and war reparations was closed. The experts' report on the analysis will be published soon. According to deputy Foreign Minister Jan Truszczynski, the report is important politically and legally as it confirms the position of both states. However, Truszczynski said, it does not rule out lawsuits as democracy guaranteed everyone the right to settle conflicting issues at courts.

Cracow, Nov. 4: PM Marek Belka has announced that Polish and American common policy and joint undertakings will be continued. Belka underlined that good contacts between Poland and the United States would have remained unchanged irrespective of the name of the new U.S. The PM said that as regards Iraq the political process of transferring power to Iraqis would be pursued and striving for boosting international cooperation in ensuring stabilization of the country would be continued. According to Belka the U.S. president, not being distracted now by the presidential race can focus on the most important task of his term, namely the countering of terrorism.

Brussels, Nov. 4: The EU shouldn't remain silent now as regards Ukraine, Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said before a EU leaders' summit. The agenda of the debates does not envisage any discussion on Ukraine but Poland is going to propose the EU to take a stand on this country. Referring to stabilization mission in Iraq, Cimoszewicz said that other states' decisions have no influence on the date of Polish troops pullout from Iraq. He stressed that Poland plays a special role in Iraq as it commands the Multinational Division. The summit is to focus on the Lisbon Strategy and its implementation. The minister said that to achieve the strategy goals liberalisation of EU labour markets should be discussed. Cimoszewicz is convinced that the summit will also tackle cross-Atlantic cooperation after the re-election of G.W. Bush though he is unsure whether new President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Durao Barroso will present his plans.

Bielsko-Biala, Nov. 4: Presidents of Israel Moshe Katsav, Russia Vladimir Putin, France Jacques Chirac and Poland's Aleksander Kwasniewski will take part in next year's ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, southern Poland, Andrzej Przewoznik, Secretary General of the Council for the Preservation of Monuments to Struggle and Martyrdom told. "Other invitations have not been confirmed yet but we can expect more heads of state and presidents of the countries whose citizens were kept in Auschwitz to come". Details concerning the participation of U.S. representatives are being agreed and Przewoznik is certain it will be a high-level delegation. According to the Council secretary the German side is also interested in the participation in the commemorations. The ceremonies will be held at the site of the former KL Auschwitz II-Birkenau on January 27, the day when the camp was liberated. The organisers expect 10 thousand persons to attend. Apart from international commemorations ceremonies also the Oswiecim authorities prepare local ceremonies of the liberation of the town and in tribute to the camp victims.

Warsaw, Nov. 4: The Sejm rejected legislation whereby the language of national minorities would be an auxiliary language in commune offices. This means that in the communes inhabited by national minorities, offices will not have to contact minority representatives in the language other than Polish. Sejm passed several out of 48 amendments to a national and ethnic minority and regional language bill. Deputies voted 247 to 133 with 6 abstentions to pass the bill in full. In Poland national minorities represent some 1 pct of the population.

Warsaw, Nov. 4: The Senate supported the introduction of a 50 percent income tax on Poland's richest people who earn more than ca. 176,000 USD annually. In this way the Senate approved the fourth tax bracket affecting around 4,000 Polish taxpayers. The Sejm passed the amendment on October 22. The government was against the introduction of this additional tax rate. At present Poland has three personal income tax brackets, at 19, 30, and 40 percent. The Senate-passed bill will now be again sent to the Sejm. If new tax regulations are to come into effect on January 1, 2005, they must be published in the Journal of law before November 30, 2004.

Wieliczka, Nov. 4: The Earl and Countess of Wessex, Prince Edward and Countess Sophie made a tour of the historical salt mine in Wieliczka near Cracow, southern Poland. The youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and his wife Countess Sophie are on a four-day visit to Poland during which they toured Warsaw and Cracow. The royal couple showed great interest in the 700-year old salt mine of Wieliczka and walked a two-kilometres long tourist route of corridors and chambers 135 m. deep in the ground. The tourist route of the underground corridors is 2.5 km long and leads to 20 salt chambers on the way. The Wieliczka Salt Mine has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1978. The royal guests on the last day of their tour of Poland opened an exhibition in a Cracow library before living this country.

Prague, Nov. 4: Deputy PM Jerzy Hausner said that Poland's economy may grow by 5.2-5.5 percent in the 3rd quarter of 2004 and by 5.7-5.8 percent in the entire year. Next, Hausner said he expected the unemployment rate to be 18.9-19.0 percent in December 2004.

Warsaw, Nov. 4: Thirty eight percent of Poles believe stores should work shorter hours on Sundays and national days and 22 percent are for banning trade on these days, indicates a report by CBOS polling centre. Thirty five percent of respondents were for total freedom of shopowners and five percent had no opinion on the matter. According to CBOS the number of Poles doing shopping on Sundays has gone up in recent years. In 1997 sixty two percent declared they never shop on Sundays. Now they account for 32 percent. Sunday's shops operations have aroused a heated debate in Poland recently with cities' and towns' councils debating whether or not to ban trade. A survey commissioned in September by the Warsaw authorities showed that 55 percent of residents were against any limitations in trade on Sundays. The CBOS poll run on October 1-4, 2004 on a representative sample of 988 adult Poles.

posted by: Oborski at 17:54 | link | comments |

President meets Earl and Countess of Wessex

Warsaw, Nov. 2: President Aleksander Kwasniewski and Ms. Jolanta Kwasniewska met with the Earl and Countess of Wessex, Prince Edward and Princess Sophia in the Presidential Palace. The president thanked their Royal Highnesses for hospitable reception during the presidential couple's official visit to Great Britain last May. He also thanked for the visit to Poland of British Deputy PM John Prescott during the celebrations of the Warsaw Rising 60th anniversary last August. John Prescott's speech in Warsaw reminded all Poles the Polish-British alliance during the World War II, the alliance which also binds the two countries within the NATO and the multi-national coalition on a stabilisation mission in Iraq. In conclusion of the visit the Earl and Countess of Wessex called on the Children's Hospital in downtown Warsaw.

Warsaw, Nov. 2: An agreement on economic cooperation between the governments of Poland and the Russian Federation was signed in Warsaw by deputy PM and Economy Minister Jerzy Hausner and Russian Minister for Economic Development and Trade German Gref. The agreement makes it possible to set up a bilateral commission that will solve current problems in mutual relations. The committee is to hold its first meeting between March and May 2005. The text of the agreement signed today was agreed on in September. Hausner said that bilateral economic cooperation was regulated chiefly by the trade agreement existing between Russia and the EU. As an EU member Poland had solid bases for cooperation with Russia. Gref said that the signed agreement was "a very good groundwork for further steps." He thanked the Polish side for "warm welcome and businesslike atmosphere of the talks." The ministers also discussed issues related to the power industry, support for investments, cooperation in the Kaliningrad district, border crossings, construction of transit infrastructure, trade issues, veterinary problems as well as modernisation of the railway terminal in Slawkow. Gref declared that "we will resolve the Polish-Russian veterinary problems soon. Hausner spoke also highly about trends in Polish-Russian trade this year. Between January and August it reached 5.6 bn USD, of which 1.6 bn USD were Polish exports (up 68 pc), while 4 bn were imports (up 17 pc). German Gref was received by PM Marek Belka who told newsmen after the meeting that "we do not see Russia as simply a neighbour. Russia is a strategic political and economic partner for the EU, and Poland, being an EU member state and having its national interest in mind, wants to develop relations with Russia.

Warsaw, Nov. 2: Polish and Indian Defence Ministers, Jerzy Szmajdzinski and Pranab Mukherjee met to discuss possibilities of Polish-Indian military and technical cooperation. Both sides agreed to set up a joint working group to review the issue. Both ministers stressed that such cooperation will not be limited to commercial contracts but also embrace joint staff training. Sides also want to review possibilities of production and modernization of military hardware and of know-how transfer.

Warsaw, Nov. 2: President of the European Parliament Josep Borrell at the start of his two-day visit to Poland met with Sejm Speaker Jozef Oleksy. He also met with heads of parliamentary caucuses. Oleksy commenting on the meetings said they were devoted to the composition of the future European Commission. Oleksy said that in his opinion Borrell expects more than just one change in the composition of the EC. The meeting with MPs was devoted to the European Constitution, EU's 2007-2013 financial prospects, the situation in Belarus and in Ukraine and a future EU accession of Turkey. Marek Borowski(SDPL) added that Polish MPs and Borrell discussed EU's eastern policy. The EP president shared the view that more attention should be given to Poland's eastern neighbours.

Warsaw, Nov. 2: Senate speaker Longin Pastusiak met a delegation of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts from the U. S. During the meeting Pastusiak recounted the Polish Senate's history and reviewed developments in Poland during recent years. Reminding about the historical character of Polish-U.S. relations, he also noted that political cooperation between both countries did not find reflection in the economic sphere. Referring to today's terrorist threats, Pastusiak said that all the world's countries should unite in the battle against global terrorism. Massachusetts Artillery Company Commander William O'Brien said he and his delegation were enchanted with Poland. He also praised Poland's economic successes, reminding that a strong economic position required hard work. The Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts is the third oldest military organization in the world after the Swiss Papal Guard and the Honourable Artillery Company of London.

Berlin, Nov. 2: Gesine Schwan, the rector of the Viadrina European university in Frankfurt on the Oder, will be the German government coordinator for cooperation with Poland, according to a report in the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper. The report has not been confirmed by the press office of the German government. A staffer of that office told that decisions concerning the posts of coordinators will be announced by the heads of the two governments during their meeting in Cracow. The two governments decided last September to set up the posts of coordinators whose tasks will include prompt reacting to problems emerging in bilateral relations. The climate of relations between Warsaw and Berlin worsened after some German expellees began to make claims to Polish real estate and compensations. Polish reactions to the claims, particularly the Sejm resolution of Sept. 10 on war reparations, were seen as exaggerated in Germany. Germany already has two government coordinators: for relations with the USA and with France. Gesine Schwan, 61, is a political scientist, speaks Polish, lived in Warsaw and Cracow for some time, and has been involved in the Polish-German reconciliation for several decades. The Financial Times Deutschland also wrote that Irena Lipowicz, the Polish ambassador to Vienna until recently, will be appointed the Polish government coordinator for relations with Germany.

Warsaw, Nov. 2: Poland can easily spend 4.2 billion euros worth of EU structural funds on regional development, but doubts remain whether the EU funding will boost competitiveness of Poland's local communities, the daily "Gazeta Wyborcza" announced. This is the 3rd GW report on how Polish provinces are making preparations to use EU money from the Integrated Regional Development Operating Programme. Its funds are used to finance projects connected with construction of roads, sewage treatment plants and IT networks, school modernisation and combating unemployment. More than half of the EU funds have already been distributed, and provincial governors are signing final agreements. Local government offices were flooded with applications, and experts and members of regional steering committees had to choose between good and very good projects. Local governments were also able to raise funds to contribute 25 percent of the value of the projects and secure funds for project implementation as EU funds are only paid out after a given project is completed.

Warsaw, Nov. 2: Renovations on the Polish embassy in Berlin will start next year, deputy foreign minister Sergiusz Najar told a sitting of the Sejm Public Finance Committee. Najar said upgrades on the embassy building will cost about 23.5 mn USD. The ministry originally planned to erect a new embassy building in Berlin, subsequently deciding to renovate the existing embassy and use the funds to build a new foreign ministry building in Warsaw.

Szczecin, Nov. 2: Airport in Golenow near Szczecin, north-western Poland, has launched new air connections with London and Copenhagen, spokesman for the airport Krzysztof Domagalski said. Air Polonia will fly to London twice a week and SAS planes will fly to Copenhagen four times a week. The cheapest ticket offered by Air Polonia costs 73.5 USD. According to the spokesman, some 2.5 thousand tickets have been sold so far to London for flights between November and January 2005. Apart from the newly launched connections the airport services Szczecin-Malmoe and Szczcin-Stockholm routes. In summer it services air connections with Turkey. Domagalski also said that talks on international connections with three successive carriers were underway. He added that a related decision would be made at the end of 2004 or in early 2005.

Ceacow, Nov. 2: Stana Buchowska of the La Strada Foundation and British historian Professor Norman Davies are the laureates of St. George's Medal awarded for the twelfth time this year. St. George's Medal is awarded to persons "fighting the wrong and building the good" in public life. It is awarded by a committee whose members include Adam Boniecki, Jozefa Hennelowa, Krzysztof Kozlowski. Buchowska has been working for seven years in the La Strada foundation fighting women trafficking and helping those who are trafficked for sex trade. Professor Davies was granted the award for promoting the knowledge about Poland and the eastern part of Europe among western historians. The distinctions will be handed over to the laureates in a ceremony to be held in the Centre of Japanese Art and Technology "Manggha" in Cracow.

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EU Update

The leaders of the European Union's 25 member states gathered in Rome last Friday to sign the new EU constitution. Later in the day the heads of state returned home to try and sell the document to lawmakers and/or citizens, depending on how each member state intends to seek ratification. As many as 19 countries will hold referendums. Poland may hold its at the same time as presidential elections, in October 2005, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski has said. "I think it would reasonable to combine the first round of the presidential election with the referendum on the European constitution.”

Incoming EU Commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso, earlier withdrew his proposed list of commissioners because of the dispute over the views of Italian justice nominee, Rocco Buttiglione. The Italian nominee faced opposition from the European Parliament over his views on homosexuality and women and MEP’s threatened to vote down the entire Commission if his name was not excluded from the list. Earlier, 10 members from the right-wing League of Polish Families, who support Mr. Buttiglione’s views on homosexuality and other issues, had threatened to vote against the commission to disrupt the relationship between the executive and the EU parliament, commented analysts.

France is considering easing it’s restrictions on Poles working in that country. The Polish and French governments will meet in Paris on November 22 to put together a special working party that will determine the precise means by which current restrictions should be changed or even abandoned. The Ministry of Economy and Labour is anticipating total liquidation of the working restrictions for Poles, although a final decision has not yet been made. On October 4, when Presidents Jacques Chirac and Aleksander Kwaśniewski met in Paris, the French President initiated the idea of composing a specialized work group that would analyse the issue and would produce a satisfying solution for both parties.

Six months after 10 newcomers joined the European Union, fears of an invasion of job seekers have been proved unfounded in Ireland, the country that held the EU presidency at the time of enlargement.
Latest available statistics show none of the expected flooding of the labour market in Ireland or its neighbour Britain.
Between May 1, the enlargement date, and the end of August, 28,924 arrivals from the 10 new member-states applied for a social security number in Ireland, a country of four millions which currently has the strongest growth rate in the EU.

Poland's economy will be one of the fastest growing in the EU over the next two years, according to the latest European Commission calculations. Analysts have raised the GDP prognosis to 5.8 percent in 2004 and 4.9 percent next year in their autumn report. The new forecasts are up from springtime projections of 4.6 percent for this year and 4.8 for 2005. Government economists expect growth of 5.7 percent in 2004 and 5.0 percent in 2005; however, they admit erring on the side of caution.

posted by: Oborski at 11:13 | link | comments |

Warsaw, Nov. 1: President Aleksander Kwasniewski and his wife returned from a two-day visit in Holland, where they participated in celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of Holland's World War Two liberation from the Nazis. Accompanying Kwasniewski was defence minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski and veterans of Polish units which helped liberate Breda from the Nazis. The main point of the presidential pair's itinerary was a breakfast in the Dutch Royal Military Academy in Breda in the company of Queen Beatrix and world war two veterans. Next Kwasniewski, his wife, Queen Beatrix and Szmajdzinski laid wreaths in Breda's two Polish military cemeteries, among other on the grave of general Stanislaw Maczek, whose Polish armoured division backed by Canadian and British forces played a key role in the city's liberation. Over 1,400 Polish soldiers died during the liberation of Breda and its surroundings. This was president Kwasniewski's first official state visit in Holland.

Warsaw, Oct. 29: President Aleksander Kwasniewski confirmed that there would be no negotiations with terrorists who had kidnapped a Polish woman in Iraq but stressed that the Polish authorities would do everything to help the woman. The president told that the Polish embassy in Iraq was ready to start talks with the kidnappers but stressed that out of question was the withdrawal of Polish troops. The president said that the Polish contingent would remain in Iraq as long as asked by the Iraqi government appointed after January's elelctions. Meanwhile Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said that the operation designed to release the Polish woman was under way not only in Iraq. We are establishing various contacts in the entire region, he added. We are sure now that the kidnapped Pole did not work for the Americans, the minister said and added that so far there was no contact with the terrorists. Iraqi extremists in videotape aired by Al-Jazeera television showed a Polish woman hostage held in Iraq and demanded that Poland remove all its troops from Iraq. The group also demanded the release of all Iraqi female prisoners.

Rome, Oct. 29: PM Marek Belka and Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz signed the EU Constitutional Treaty together with heads of states of the 25 EU members. Earlier Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi appealed to the citizens of the 25 EU countries to ratify the Constitution. It opens up a new chapter in history, he said and announced that Italy would be the first country to ratify the treaty. Some countries, including Poland and Great Britain, have already announced they plan to put the constitution to a referendum. A single 'no' would stop the EU constitution in its tracks.

Warsaw, Nov. 1: PM Marek Belka said after a private audience granted to him by Pope John Paul II that he once again invited the pontiff to visit Poland. The pope is always invited to Poland, the PM said and added that he had told the pope that Poles were always waiting for his visit. In a message handed to Belka, John Paul II thanked Poland and the Polish authorities for backing the unsuccessful efforts to include mention of Europe's Christian heritage in the preamble of the EU's new constitution. Present at the audience was also Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz.

Warsaw, Nov. 1: Poland's official stand regarding non-negotiation with terrorists should not be confused with negotiation techniques applied in such cases as this one, Poland's foreign ministry announced following a meeting between Poland's ambassador in Iraq and Iraqi government officials in connection with the kidnapping of a Polish woman by Iraqi rebels. Polish foreign minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said at the time that an operation to free the kidnapped woman was underway. Foreign ministry spokesman Aleksander Checko said that Polish ambassador in Iraq Ryszard Krystosik had discussed the case with Iraqi interior ministry officials, but was unable to reveal any details of the talks. Checko reported that Krystosik had also spoken with Ulema Council chairman Hareth al-Dhari. Cimoszewicz talked on the phone with Iraqi foreign minister Hoshiyar Zebari. Checko stressed that an official stand on the kidnapping by the Ulema Council would be a "great help". The Council is the unquestioned highest authority in Iraq, besides it has contacts to the opposition, Checko pointed out.

Warsaw, Nov. 1: Four Iraq-resident Polish women may want to return home after kidnapping of a female Pole by Iraqi rebels, foreign ministry spokesman Aleksander Checko said. According to Checko the four women who want to leave Iraq were facing a very difficult decision. This isn't just about security. There are family ties to consider. Those women live in Iraq, he said. Polish diplomats have offered help to nine Polish women living in Iraq.

Warsaw, Nov. 1: Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski will meet with Defence Minister of India Pranab Mukherjee to discuss bilateral military and technological cooperation. The two ministers are also expected to discuss future projects involving joint research and to hold a press conference. During the visit paid on November 1-4, the defence minister of India will also meet with President Aleksander Kwasniewski and PM Marek Belka.

Warsaw, Oct. 29: Cooperation between Poland and Iraq envisages the modernisation of T-55 and T-72 tanks and this will be one of the most important contracts. In two weeks a Polish delegation will go to Iraq to examine the tanks. The value of the contract is still being negotiated, according to representatives of the Iraqi defence ministry. During a visit to Poland the Iraqi delegation said that modernisation would probably cover 200 tanks and that the country still considers a possible involvement of Ukraine in the task. Ziyad Cattan from the Iraqi delegation has said that the value of contracts reached with Poland up till now exceeds 50 million USD and that three other contracts worth 20 million USD are being drafted. The signed contracts cover deliveries of ammunition and optical equipment. Iraq has considered the purchase from Poland of choppers for the transport of troops and VIPs as well as for medical evacuation. A group of Iraqi experts will come to Poland at the beginning of November. The biggest partner of the Iraqi defence ministry is Bumar group that has signed some arms contracts and plans to open an Ursus tractor factory in the more peaceful, northern part of Iraq.

Warsaw, Oct. 29: Polish conservationists have completed over 10 restoration projects on historical relics in the Polish-controlled stabilization zone in south-central Iraq. The projects, worth a total 200,000 USD, include the documentation of relics around Poland's Camp Babylon military base, cooperation with the Babylon Museum in Iraq, and the construction of protective fencing around historical relics in Babylon. The city of Babylon dates back to 3,000 BC and is the site of many precious historical remains. Their protection and conservation is one of the main tasks of Polish stabilization troops in Iraq. By mid-December Poland will move its Iraq headquarters from Camp Babylon to to its new Echo base in Ad Diwanyah.

Kiev, Nov. 1: According to a group of Polish observers sent to Ukraine by the European Parliament, the presidential election in that country held on October 31 could be described as democratic. According to former PM Jerzy Buzek, the course of the campaign and the results of the vote show that a civic society was being born in Ukraine. At the same time the Polish observers criticized the Ukrainian authorities for their organization of the election campaign, which they described it as "unjust, dirty and undemocratic".

Warsaw, Oct. 29: Since 1989 the World Bank has granted Poland 6 billion USD in loans, the money financing 41 national projects, WB spokesman in Poland Jacek Wojciechowicz said devoted to the bank's aid to developing economies. WB loans were mainly used to finance development of the financial and power sectors, the growth of the private sector and public sector management. Future WB loans are expected to be directed for roadbuilding and road repair projects in Poland. Alice Galenson, coordinator of a WB report on the bank's aid to Poland and other post-Soviet economies, said that assistance to developing economies after the fall of the USSR had been "a success".

"Cześć!"

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Iraq: Hungarian pullout could disable Polish zone

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President celebrates 50th birthday, meets diplomats

Lockheed Martin sees 1/3 of offset deals implemented in 2 yrs

Poland, Germany to avoid double taxation

Poland and Italy concur on EU sugar market reform

Warsaw preparing for European summit, pope's pilgrimage

Medals for promoting tolerance

PKN Orlen may buy Unipetrol in early 2005

Forests cover 28 pct of Poland's area

Patriotism and national remembrance

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A story for...INDEPENDENCE DAY - NOVEMBER 11th

- Marshal Jozef Pilsudski

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President meets Earl and Countess of Wessex

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A story for...
INDEPENDENCE DAY - NOVEMBER 11th