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.

"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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