POLISH NEWS BULLETIN
March 2005
Warsaw, March 1: The Polish authorities present at the ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the conclusion of WW2 in Moscow on May 9 should raise the subject of "Stalinist oppression and terror," believe signatories of an open letter to President Aleksander Kwasniewski and Foreign Minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld. The appeal has been issued by students of Lodz university. So far the letter has been signed by more than 1,200 politicians, scholars, former Home Army AK soldiers, student Leszek Jazdzewski said and added the signatures will be collected until Friday. The signatories called for shaping Polish-Russian relations in the atmosphere of truth and reconciliation. These relations may be hampered by statements such as a February one issued by the Russian Federation foreign ministry on Yalta.
Warsaw, March 1: Prime minister Marek Belka should think about the damage to national stability his switch to the new Democratic Party could cause, members of Belka's current party Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) said on Tuesday. According to parliamentary sources the PM was considering "some form of support" for the new party. Earlier today Belka announced he would make "a rather important political statement" on Thursday. SLD caucus head Krzysztof Janik today warned that unexpected moves on Belka's part could destabilize the country. "Any drastic moves on the PM's part would mean destabilization. Marek Belka knows this and I believe he is a responsible person". SLD leader Jozef Oleksy believes Belka is a "serious politician" and will "undertake no steps that could lead to the government's disintegration". If the PM were to join a new party, I believe he would be doing so in the awareness that this could (...) evoke a political crisis - Oleksy warned. The Democratic Union founded by Freedom Union (UW) leader Wladyslaw Frasyniuk and deputy PM Jerzy Hausner announced its official programme on Sunday. Frasyniuk and Hausner also invited Belka to join the new party.
Warsaw, March 1: Easing tax burdens, transparent privatization and less formal obstacles in the economy are the milestones reflecting the direction of the future government's economic policy, Jan Rokita, one of the leaders of the Citizens Platform (PO) told a meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. Rokita stressed that only a policy of cutting labour costs and tax burdens may bring a stable, instead of a temporary, economic development. He added that such policy should be supplemented with transparent and bold privatization and a plan of deregulation of economic rules aimed to "free economic activity from excessive legal shackles."
Warsaw, March 1: The council of ministers on Tuesday okayed the signing of an economic cooperation agreement with the government of Ukraine, the government information centre CIR reported in a statement. The adoption by the government of a related resolution will enable the signing of the agreement during PM Marek Belka's visit in Kiev this Thursday and Friday. CIR wrote that the agreement is necessary to create conditions for economic cooperation and investments, confirm readiness for mutual exchange of information and for the development of information and promotion structures. The agreement is also to establish foundations for the functioning of the Polish-Ukrainian Mixed Commission for Commerce and Economic Cooperation. It will be reached in accordance with Poland's commitments stemming from the country's membership of the European Union and the World Trade Organisation as well as other binding international agreements. According to CIR the agreement confirms the importance of relations with Ukraine for Poland.
"Fast track" draft amendments to law on IPN ready
Warsaw, March 1: The National Remembrance Institute (IPN) would have 14 days to answer a person who has found his or her name on the so-called "Wildstein list" whether the files concerned the applicant. On Tuesday the Sejm Human Rights Committee passed draft amendments to the law on IPN. The Sejm will hear the second reading of the draft during its forthcoming sitting starting Wednesday. The Wildstein list was leaked from the IPN, and appeared on the Internet. Journalist Bronislaw Wildstein copied the list from the institute's computer disks and distributed it to journalists. Meanwhile the Citizens' Platform (PO) is completing its work on draft amendments to the vetting law providing for extending political vetting onto heads of public mass media, state university rectors, judges and prosecutors, one of PO's leaders Bronislaw Komorowski told.
Warsaw, March 1: An exhibition illustrating the actions undertaken by Poland to protect the Iraqi national heritage was opened in the Polish Embassy in London on Tuesday. The exhibition will be also on display in Paris, the Defence Ministry here reported. The visitors to the exhibition are offered publications specially prepared in connection with the event, as well an electronic version of the report on the current state of the Polish archaeological excavations site in Babylon. The document was prepared by Polish archaeologists who realise special tasks concerning protection of Iraqi cultural heritage within the Multi-National Division Centre-South. Polish specialists will also answer possible questions of the visitors. On Monday, March 14 the exhibition will be moved to the Polish Embassy in Paris. The inauguration is to be attended by UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura.
3 million euros for Polish-German cultural projects
Berlin, March 1: During the Polish-German Year 2005-2006 staring late in April the German Cultural Foundation intends to support contacts between Polish and German artists first of all from smaller cultural centres situated away from the biggest cities. The German minister for culture and media said in Berlin Tuesday that the government-sponsored Foundation earmarked 3 million euros to support Polish-German cultural projects. "Our aim is to help bring societies of the East and West of Europe closer together" - Christina Weiss told journalists. The organisers want to support newly created theatre, music, dance and radio productions and exhibition projects and help establish durable contacts in the future.
Warsaw, March 2: German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer will pay a one day working visit to Poland on Friday at the invitation of his Polish counterpart Adam Daniel Rotfeld. The ministers will chair plenary talks of both countries delegations devoted to bilateral relations, EU-related issues and European neighbourly policy including join Polish-German actions vis-a-vis Ukraine. The ministers will also discuss cross-Atlantic cooperation and preparations for the Polish-German Year 2005/2006 scheduled fot start on April 30, 2005.
Warsaw, March 2: Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said that he would remain a member of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) until the end of the current term of office of the Sejm. But at the same time he admitted that he could understand Prime Minister Marek Belka's positive attitude towards the new Democratic Party. "I would not be able to encourage Poles today to vote for SLD" - Cimoszewicz told Radio One but stressed that he would not leave it now because of loyalty and decency towards the party which designated him for Sejm speaker. Cimoszewicz upheld his earlier declarations that parliamentary elections should be held in the second half of June and stressed that the Sejm would vote a motion on its self-dissolution on May 5.
Wroclaw, March 2: A debate on the National Development Plan NPR is aimed at forming circles of development-oriented people including businessmen, scholars, non-governmental and local government activists - deputy PM Jerzy Hausner told a regional conference on the initial NPR for 2007-2013 in Wroclaw. NPR is a comprehensive programme of Poland's social and economic development aimed at effective inclusion of the country in European Union structures, of which social, economic and spatial cohesion is one of crucial elements.
Warsaw, March 2: Ukrainian metallurgy concern Donbas is upholding its offer to purchase Czestochowa, the company announced in a Wednesday communique. ". . . we are seriously interested in taking part in the privatization of Huta Czestochowa and confirm the topicality of presented offer" - Donbas wrote in a letter addressed to Treasury Minister Jacek Socha at the same time noting that the privatization procedure is not transparent. Huta Czestochowa is Poland's biggest steel sheet producer for the ship building industry with annual production capacity of 700,000 tons of steel. It employs more than 2,000 workers.
Bielsko-Biala, March 2: Four companies have offered to create an Economic Activeness Zone in Oswiecim, south Poland. Katarzyna Kwiecien from the Oswiecim magistrate said the zone should provide up to 360 new jobs by 2009. The Economic Activeness Zone will be cofinanced from the PHARE 2003 aid fund, which will cover 74 percent of the costs (2.4 mn euros).
Warsaw, March 2: There is no other country in the European Union except for Poland where businessmen and consumers are so optimistic about the future, according to the Rzeczpospolita daily quoting the results of a survey carried out by the European Commission. In February the moods of Polish businessmen and consumers reached 142.8 percent of the average result. In the euro zone the result dropped to below 100 percent with the worst figures reported in Germany, Italy and Spain. The results of the survey, which covered 110,000 firms and 33,000 consumers in the 25 EU countries, are considered as a forecast concerning the development of the European economy in the near future. European Commission experts are convinced that in the coming years the Polish economy will grow by 4.5-5.5 percent, that is two to three times faster than in Western Europe.
Warsaw, March 2: Film director Jerzy Kawalerowicz won the Eagle 2005 Film Award granted for life achievements. The decision was made public by Culture Minister Waldemar Dabrowski in Warsaw. Previously awards were granted to movie directors Andrzej Wajda and Kazimierz Kutz and writer Tadeusz Konwicki. Names of all Polish laureates of Eagles 2005 Polish Film Awards will be announced during a gala ceremony on Saturday.
Warsaw, March 3: Prime Minister Marek Belka said Thursday that Poland would lose if it rejected the EU Constitutional Treaty and stressed a referendum on the EU Constitution should be held together with the first round of presidential elections on September 25. In an address at the Batory Foundation the PM warned that Poland should not wait for another country to reject the EU constitution. Poland should be an example and approve the treaty - Belka stressed. Next, the PM described the engagement of the EU in the Ukrainian crisis as the biggest success of the Polish diplomacy. Belka stressed it was possible following his government's approval of the EU Constitutional Treaty. Speaking about Poland's good relations with the U.S. the PM said they were strengthening Poland's position in the EU and not weakening it. "Good relations with the U.S. mean not only warm feelings but above all the national interest. One cannot say that great West European superpowers would treat Poland more seriously if Poland was not in Iraq" - the PM said. "At the same time we should not have any doubts that we are a European country, that we are good Europeans and that we are determined to create a strong and united Europe" - he added. Speaking about Poland's eastern policy the PM stressed it was in Poland's interest to be pro-ukrainian and pro-russian at the same time. "This requires wisdom, determination and courage as we will not be given any help from our neighbours in the East and West" - Belka stressed. Speaking about the participation of a Polish delegation in commemorations marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Moscow on May 9, Belka said: "We must be there for the past, present day and future".
Kiev, March 3: Prime minister Marek Belka on Thursday evening arrived in the Ukrainian capital Kiev for 2-day trade talks. Also planned is the signing of trade cooperation accords between Poland and Ukraine. Discussed among others will be the future of the Odessa-Brody pipeline and the privatization of Poland's Czestochowa Steelworks.
Warsaw, March 3: The defence ministers of the Visegrad Group will meet in Warsaw on Friday to discuss military and political cooperation of the group within the European policy of security and defence and participation in international peace and stabilization missions. The meeting organized by Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdznski will be attended by Ministers of Defence of the Czech Republic Karel Kuehnl, Slovakia Juraj Liska and Hungary Ferenc Juhasz. Later in the day planned is a joint press conference of the four ministers. Ukrainian Defence Minister Anatoly Hrycenka will attend the second part of the meeting.
Warsaw, March 3: The opposition's criticism of the government's policy towards Germany dominated Thursday's sitting of the Sejm's Foreign Affairs Committee. According to Marian Pilka (Law and Justice) Poland's foreign ministry was unable to adjust to the changes in Germany. Pilka noted that Germany was vying for hegemony in Europe and distancing itself from its traditional alliance with the U.S. in favour of tighter ties with Russia. He also reminded that today's Germans were unwilling to carry responsibility for world war two. Germany's silence during Ukraine's "orange revolution" shows that its partner today is Russia - Pilka said. Janusz Dobosz from the League of Polish Families agreed that German-Russian rapprochement was an "evident tendency". Antoni Macierewicz (Catholic-National Movement) warned about an "emerging German-Russian pact" whose price could be "Poland's existence". Foreign ministry secretary Jan Truszczynski refuted claims about a pact between Russia and Germany. This is a bad and completely unrealistic interpretation. Germany's assertiveness on the international scene need not be harmful for Poland - he said. Truszczynski also assured Poland would oppose all Russian moves aimed at diminishing Poland's influence on EU and NATO decisions concerning Russia.
Warsaw, March 3: Warsaw Mayor Lech Kaczynski met with Israeli deputy Prime Minister Simon Peres on Thursday, the Warsaw City press office informed. The mayor has been on a visit to Israel since Tuesday at the invitation of the Israeli authorities. The talks concern the construction of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews which is to be built in Warsaw by autumn of 2007. On Thursday Kaczynski also met with his Israeli counterpart, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai and next the Warsaw delegation laid flowers at the memorial to Icchak Rabin, the late Israeli prime minister murdered in 1995. The Warsaw authorities will wind up the Israeli visit on Friday.
Warsaw, March 3: I am supporting the idea to hold parliamentary elections in spring but the best way to end the work of this government is a decision to dissolve parliament - Prime Minister Marek Belka told the Sejm on Thursday morning. Belka also said that Poland was in a better condition than a year ago and that the economy was developing well. He also stressed
that leader of the League of Polish Families (LPR) Roman Giertych, whose party submitted a motion calling on Belka to resign, did not know anything about the economy. Belka also appealed on the Sejm to urgently pass amendments to the health service-related law.
Brussels, March 3: Poland's foreign ministry rejected explanations by European Commission spokeswoman who said that there is no discrimination of Poles in access to senior EU positions. "The Polish authorities are surprised at the statement of European Commission spokeswoman Francoise Le Bails who said that there is no discrimination of Poles in the appointments to senior positions in EU institutions" - a Polish diplomat said. "We expect the Commission to resolve the problem." Polish Prime Minister Marek Belka has sent a letter to head of the European Commission Jose Barroso in which he complained that Poles are not being given enough senior positions in the EU executive. According to a Polish diplomat, there is no "national balance" in the Commission. Among the seven highest positions for candidates from new member states, two went to the Czech Republic and one to Poland. The diplomat recalled that Spain has 30 general directors or vice-directors and Belgium 26.
Warsaw, March 3: The 1st Warsaw Festival of Artistic Photography starts Thursday. Invitations to participate in it have been extended to the Czech Centre of Culture, the Slovak and French Institutes as well as a number of Polish Art Galleries and photographers. The event, to end of April 3 will feature more than 20 individual shows.
Rotfeld, Fischer to pay visit to Kiev on March 21
Warsaw, March 4: Foreign Ministers of Poland and Germany Adam Daniel Rotfeld and Joschka Fischer will pay a joint visit to Ukraine on March 21 to demonstrate support for for that country - Rotfeld said following a meeting with Fischer in Warsaw on Friday. We want to give Ukraine a joint signal that it has not been left alone, that our support for it may take on different forms, that we will try to strengthen its transformation process which would let the country experience a quality change - Rotfeld said. The ministers recalled that Ukraine had been discussed by Poland and Germany for a few months. Rotfeld explained that during the Friday meeting the two pondered on what the two countries could additionally contribute to the programme for Ukraine. He underlined that initiatives should influence hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians, not only the elite. The ministers discussed how to increase the number of scholarships for Ukrainian students, organise mass training in law and local government issues as well as establishing a European university on Polish-Ukrainian border modelled on Viadrina in Frankfurt an der Oder, as it was pointed out by Irena Lipowicz, the foreign ministry representative for Polish-German relations. The ministers also discussed Polish-German cooperation in European policy, NATO, history of relations between the states, the project of the so called Polish Year in Germany and German Year in Poland. Fischer, who paid a visit to Poland on Friday, thanked the Polish diplomacy and especially President Aleksander Kwasniewski for involvement in solving the political crisis in Ukraine. He underlined the importance of the EU initiative in the case of Ukraine which was carried out by Poland jointly with EU Foreign Minister Javier Solana, Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus. The German guest was also received by President Aleksander Kwasniewski to discuss issues related to the ratification of the EU Constitutional Treaty and the development of political and social situation in Ukraine. Joschka Fischer congratulated the Polish president on his successful reconciliation mission in Ukraine. Both highly evaluated the present state of Polish-German relations.
Kiev, March 4: A special working team for the development of Odessa-Brody oil pipeline will be set up, PMs of Poland and Ukraine Marek Belka and Yuliya Tymoshenko declared in Kiev on Friday. At a joint news conference following bilateral talks Tymoshenko underlined the importance of extending the pipeline up to the northern Polish city of Gdansk and expressed the conviction that Ukraine's efforts to send its crude oil to western Europe via Poland would not be hampered by anybody. The PMs discussed possibilities of delivering electricity and earth gas to Poland in line with Poland's policy of diversifying delivery sources, as Belka put it. Belka also said that preparations were underway to develop a tri-laterial Polish-Ukrainian-Russian railway project linking the Far East via Russia and Ukraine to the terminal in Slawkow on the Polish border. The Polish PM explained that the privatisation process of Huta
Czestochowa steel mill was a clear one as Indian concern Mittel Steel price was 13 percent higher than that offered by Donbas. However, he added, April is the deadline for Mittel Steel which means that the exclusive negotiation rights on the steel mill would end at the end of that month. The Polish PM stressed that the decision on the sale of the steel mill, crucial for the Polish steel industry, cannot be made only on the basis of the price. The Ukrainian PM expressed satisfaction over the signing by the Polish government of an annex to an agreement regulating Ukrainians' employment in Poland as well as another agreement on the exchange of cultural heritage between Poland and Ukraine. She also express the hope for boosting cooperation. "We love Poland and we love the Polish nation" - she declared.
Cracow, March 4: A decision on the date of the future referendum on the European constitution is a totally internal affair of Poland - EU commissioner for regional policy Danuta Huebner said Friday. "We must only remember that when signing the Constitutional Treaty heads of states and governments...have undertook an obligation that the new treaty will come in force in November 2006. This means that to that date Poland should prepare its stand" - said Huebner. Asked when such referendum should be held in Poland, Huebner said that "there are no limits on the part of Brussels and it should be decided in Poland what is best."
Warsaw, March 4: The National Remembrance Institute (IPN) will have 14 days to answer a person who has found his or her name on the so-called "Wildstein list" whether the files concerned the applicant. On Friday the Sejm passed draft amendments to the law on IPN. There were 418 votes for the amendment, no votes against and five abstentions. The Wildstein list was leaked from the IPN, and appeared on the Internet. Journalist Bronislaw Wildstein copied the list from the institute's computer disks and distributed it to journalists.
Warsaw, March 4: The Polish-German Year will be held from spring 2005 and till autumn 2006 - Culture Ministry spokeswoman Anna Godzisz has told presenting the programme of the project. The Year with a variety of cultural events, exhibitions, theatre performances, film reviews and concerts is organised by the Polish Culture Ministry, the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and the Foreign Ministry on the Polish side which plans to earmark 5 million zlotys (some 1.3 million euros) for the event. The German side is preparing its own programme coordinated by the government-financed German Cultural Foundation which is to spend
3 milllion euros for sponsoring cultural projects. One of them will be an art club in Bytom, south-west Poland, which will be a venue of concerts, theatre productions and exhibitions for six week starting from mid-August and then will be moved to Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. Polish theatre productions will deal with the situation in Silesia and problems of German and Polish reminiscences from WW2. Polish and German journalists will jointly prepare an artistic programme "Radio Copernicus" to be beamed in Polish, German and English from Stralsund, Berlin, Warsaw and Wroclaw from July till end of 2005. "TRIDEM 2005 Paris-Berlin-Warsaw" car rally of 100 young people is to start May 1 and wind up on May 12.
Wroclaw, March 4: The Wroclaw University Library has regained the 15th century breviary which has been lost since World War Two . The manuscript was found in the June 2002 catalogue issued by London Sotheby's - an official of the Wroclaw University told Friday. The manuscript, Breviarium Vratislaviense, will be handed to the library on March 8 by Foreign Minister commissioner for restitution of cultural heritage looted during World War Two professor Wojciech Kowalski. This has been the second precious manuscript we managed to get back recently - the library director told. In October 2003 we got back a fragment of the 15th century Belial by Jacobus de Theramo - she added.
Warsaw, March 6: President Aleksander Kwasniewski has said that if the Sejm term is not shortened than first round of presidential elections, parliamentary elections and a referendum on the EU constitution would be held on September 25. However, Kwasniewski who spoke after a Friday evening meeting with left-wing politicians, added that this issue is not yet determined. Kwasniewski stressed that voices on the question of elections are split, but added that one thing is sure - this issue will be a topic of the May 5 Sejm debate. Up to then, all parties must say whether they are for cutting short Sejm's term or not.
Warsaw, March 7: Italian deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini is to pay a one-day working visit to Poland on March 11 - the Polish Foreign Ministry reported on Monday. The programme of the visit includes plenary talks of both countries' delegations chaired by the Polish and Italian Foreign Ministers, the signing of an inter-governmental agreement on cooperation in culture and education and a press conference. Gianfranco Fini is also scheduled to meet with President Aleksander Kwasniewski and Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz to discuss bilateral relations in politics, economy and culture as well as international issues.
Warsaw, March 7: Ratification of the EU Constitutional Treaty, Lisbon Strategy and the Union's relations with East European states will be discussed by Polish and Dutch foreign ministers in Cracow on Wednesday. The talks will be held within the 14th session of the Utrecht Conference. Poland's Foreign Minister Adam Rotfeld and his Dutch counterpart, Minister Bernard Bot will also discuss the United Nations planned reform and the course of the peace process in the Middle East, Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksander Checko informed on Monday. The ministers will also confer on questions connected with the EU enlargement, the Union's relations with Russia, Belarus and Moldova, and assess the political situation in Iraq. Experts from the economy and labour, finance and justice ministries will also take part in the conference to discuss problems of freedom of labour for Polish citizens in Holland. The Utrecht conference is a forum of working contacts of different ministries of the two countries, established in 1999 at the initiative of the then foreign Ministers Bronislaw Geremek of Poland and Jozias van Aartsen of the Netherlands.
Warsaw, March 7: Probably the first significant EU institution will soon be transferred to Warsaw, according to the Rzeczpospolita daily which wrote on Monday that the majority of European leaders agreed that a body monitoring EU external borders should have its headquarters in Warsaw. Poland has won support of Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Spain and
some smaller European countries which agreed that the European Border Protection Agency should have its headquarters in Warsaw - the daily said, and added that French President Jacques Chirac was against these plans. But during a meeting of the Polish and French presidents French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin announced that France changed its position and would no longer oppose the plan - the daily said quoting Poland's Interior Minister Ryszard Kalisz. An official decision concerning the agency should be taken during the forthcoming summit of the 25 EU leaders in late March - Kalisz added.
Divanija, March 7: A Polish soldier was injured when a mine exploded on the route of a convoy he was in. The accident happened 20 kilometres north of Hilli, in the so called Polish zone - spokesman for the commander of the Multinational Centre-South Division lieutenant-colonel Zbigniew Staszkow said. The convoy was driving back from the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad to the Charlie base in Hilli.
Bielsko-Biala, March 7: An online museum devoted to the wartime Nazi Auschwitz concentration camp in south Poland opened Monday at www.remember.org/auschwitz/. The site, founded by the American-Polish couple Alan and Krystyna Jacobs, features photographs of main Auschwitz sites, including the camp's infamous block 11 and its execution wall, one of the gas chambers in which prisoners were mass murdered, and Crematorium One where bodies were burnt. Also on the site is an exhibition of art by Auschwitz prisoners.
Prague, March 7: The Czech Trade government agency, set up to promote Czech firms and products abroad, has been encouraging Czech businessmen to invest in Poland - the Czech Pravo daily wrote on Monday, adding that Poland was considered the biggest market in Central and Eastern Europe. According to the Czech Trade agency, Polish agriculture and food processing, wood and machine building industries and ecology, including waste and water treatment, might prove successful for Czech businessmen. The daily stressed that the biggest barrier in Poland was the poor condition of roads. There are no highways which are linked with international routes - the daily said adding that the situation had not changed for years despite promises of the Polish government. But the current situation cannot last any longer as it is a very serious obstacle hampering the development of logistics - the daily stressed.
Warsaw, March 7: Child poverty is on the rise in Poland, according to a UN report quoted by the Rzeczpospolita daily on Monday. About 12.7 percent of young people under the age of 18 live in poverty, and with this figure Poland places in the middle of the list of the 24 countries covered by the UNICEF survey. But on the other hand there has been recently a very significant rise in child poverty rates in Poland - the daily added. In the 1990's the number of youngsters living in poverty went up by 4 percent - the daily stressed and added that this was the worst result in Europe. According to the Office of the Ombudsmen for Children in Poland,
there are regions where there are around 40 percent of children and young people living in poverty. According to the authors of the report, levels of child poverty depend in large part on public spending on social benefits for families. State intervention in market economies can reduce child poverty even by 40 percent - the daily concluded.
Warsaw, Vilnius, March 8: Bilateral relations, eastern policy conducted by Poland and Lithuania as well as participation of the two countries in peace missions will be discussed by Presidents of Poland and Lithuania Aleksander Kwasniewski and Valdas Adamkus during an official visit to Lithuania by the Polish president on March 9-10. The Lithuanian side wants to discuss the construction of the Via Baltica and Rail Baltica and a power bridge - Czeslaw Okinczyc, the Lithuanian president's aide, said on Tuesday. According to Okinczyc the two presidents will also discuss the eastern policy of the two countries with particular emphasis on
"Ukraine, the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Moscow and participation of Polish and Iraqi troops in stabilization missions in Iraq and Afghanistan". On Monday Presidents of Lithuania Valdas Adamkus and Estonia Arnold Ruutel said they would not attend May ceremonies in Moscow marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War Two. The talks will also cover the situation of Poles in Lithuania and
Lithuanians in Poland. The Polish president will also meet with Lithuanian PM Algirdas Brazauskas and will address the Lithuanian Sejm. Later on Wednesday President Kwasniewski will receive a honoris causa doctorate of the Vilnius University. On Thursday President Kwasniewski will receive the title of an honorary citizen of Kaunas.
Warsaw, March 8: The government wants the Sejm to decide upon the Constitutional Treaty ratification procedure and obliged Prime Minister Marek Belka to present an appropriate motion to the Sejm speaker on Wednesday. Foreign Minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld said at a press conference after the cabinet meeting Tuesday that the government recommended to hold a referendum on the Treaty. The government suggests to hold the referendum together with the first round of the presidential elections, if the date is set for September 25 - Rotfeld said and added that this would assure a 50-percent turnout necessary for the referendum to be valid. At the same time talks were under way with the General Secretariat of the EU Council on corrections to the Polish version of the Treaty in which errors have been found. Rotfeld said all 25 EU states have similar problems. The government also got acquainted with the document concerning the information campaign on the EU constitution. Apart from publications and a website the campaign envisages social consultations and open meetings.
Warsaw, March 8: The Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) has drawn up a formal motion for legal assistance addressed to Russian authorities and concerning the Katyn massacre of Polish POWs committed on Stalin's orders in 1940. The motion asks for all files of the Russian investigation into the case, including the secret ones. IPN asks for declassifying them and turning over to Poland as well as for searching for other evidence materials and witnesses. President Aleksander Kwasniewski said after his talks in Moscow with president Vladimir Putin held in September, 2004, that Putin assured him "that the classified documents will be declassified". However, it was revealed last Friday that oral statements of the Russian embassy in Warsaw suggested that, contrary to its own assurances, Russia would not turn over to Poland all the files of the Katyn murder investigation closed in September, 2004, citing the fact they remained secret.
Warsaw, March 8: The Polish government Tuesday agreed to the sealing of an agreement warranting the erection and support of a NATO Joint Force Training Centre (JFTC) in Bydgoszcz, north Poland. Defence minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski said today that the agreement was necessary to ensure adequate conditions for the centre's functioning. The NATO Joint Force Training Centre in Poland started work on March 31 2004.
Warsaw, March 8: The Muslim Culture Centre with the capacity of over 100 will be set up in Lodz shortly - Express Ilustrowany said. A plot of land was bought by the Muslim League in Poland from a private owner. The organisation groups Arabs and Poles that converted to Islam. It was registered last year and runs several Muslim Culture Centres in Poland. We want it to be a place where information about Muslim culture, spirituality and customs can be obtained. The building will consists of a culture and spiritual part. This will not be a mosque in the true sense of the word but a prayer house - Husam Freikh from the Muslim Student Association in Poland said. There are an estimated 200 Muslims in Lodz with 30 thousand in the entire Poland.
Brussels, March 8: Poland comes out for greatest possible fiscal discipline in all EU member states - finance minister Miroslaw Gronicki said after the meeting here of the EU finance ministers. The only exception could be made for countries reforming their pension systems - Gronicki added, saying those countries could be treated more leniently. "We believe that only the reforms can substantiate exceptional treatment, while all other matters should not be taken into account. We come out for a moderately restrictive pact" - Gronicki said at a press conference. The fate of planned reforms of the Pact of Stability and Growth that imposes fiscal restrictions of EU governments will be most likely decided at a meeting of ministers of the euro zone countries scheduled for March 20.
Katowice, March 8: The World Bank is to approve a Partnership Strategy for Poland for the years 2005-2007 in late March. The scheme offers credits of up to a total sum of 500 million USD annually - Edgar Saravia, the bank's country manager for Poland, said on Tuesday. In tune with assumptions, priorities for which the World Bank declares its support include reforms and privatization in the mining and rail sectors, road improvement, upgrading of sea ports, anti-flood protection measures and support of rural areas. Saravia added that although the World Bank offers Poland a concrete sum of funds, this does not mean that the Polish government will decide to take advantage of the offered funds as there are a number of other sources of financial backing.
Warsaw, March 8: The cabinet on Tuesday approved a draft law on the introduction of an ecological car tax to replace excise duty imposed on vehicles. The tax is to be paid once during the first registration of all vehicles, new and used one. Deputy Finance Minister Jaroslaw Neneman said that the scale of the tax sum will depend on the vehicle's piston displacement and a ratio dependent on the ecological norm.
Polish-Lithuanain relations are very good today, Kwasniewski says
Vilnius, March 9: Polish-Lithuanian relations are very good today and friendly relations are a good contribution to European relations - said President Aleksander Kwasniewski following a meeting with his Lithuanian counterpart Valdas Adamkus. Kwasniewski started a two-day official visit to Lithuania on Wednesday. The Polish president remarked this was likely his very last visit to Lithuania and added that all former visits were "important and served the cause of Poland and Lithuania in Europe."
PiS: president should not go to Moscow
Warsaw, March 9: President Aleksander Kwasniewski should refrain from attending Moscow celebrations marking the 60th WW2 end anniversary - politicians from the opposing Law and Justice Party (PiS) declared Wednesday. The evil of the Yalta conference and our war contributions will be ignored - PiS said. Kwasniewski, in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius today, declared that he would attend the Moscow ceremony. Referring to the Lithuanian and Estonian presidents' refusal to go to Moscow, Kwasniewski stated that Poland's post-war situation was different as the Soviets did not deprive it of its sovereignty completely, as they did the other two countries. According to PiS executive and Sejm deputy speaker Kazimierz Michal Ujazdowski Kwasniewski's position in this respect was "incomprehensible", as "all our countries had the same terrible experiences with the Soviets". I only wish president Kwasniewski had the same courage and determination as the heads of much smaller countries which lost their freedom under the Ribbentropp-Molotov Pact - Ujazdowski said. PiS caucus head Ludwik Dorn said Kwasniewski's stand proved that he at least partly agreed with the Yalta decisions. One can say that we are from Poland and Mr. Kwasniewski from communist Poland - Dorn stated.
Warsaw, March 9: Prime Minister Marek Belka will take part in the International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security in Madrid on March 10-11 organized by the Club de Madrid. The prime minister will take part in the plenary session as well as in a panel discussion on terrorism. While in Madrid, PM Belka is scheduled to meet with Greek PM Kostas Karamanlis and also with Romanian PM Calin Constantin Anton Popescu-Tariceanu to discuss European affairs and bilateral relations. On March 11, Prime Minister Belka will attend ceremonies marking the victims of the March 11, 2004 bomb attack.
Cracow, March 9: Russian decision concerning the Katyn crime is deeply unjust and incomprehensible - Foreign Minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld said in Cracow Wednesday commenting on the Russian side's decision not to give Poland access to a part of records from the Russian investigation into the Katyn massacre of 1940. Rotfeld declared the Polish side will not stop at merely accepting the Russian stand. Asked by journalists for his opinion about President Aleksander Kwasniewski's planned May 9 presence at the end of WW2 60th anniversary celebrations Rotfled admitted he himself advised the president to go to Moscow.
Cracow, March 9: There is a chance that Holland will ease restrictions as regards the free flow of labour and will open its labour market to Poles - Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot said at a press conference in Cracow Wednesday. Bot met with his Polish counterpart, Minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld during the 14th session of the Utrecht Conference in Cracow. Bot said the Dutch side in May will assess the results of the two-year transition period for free flow of labour which is to last till May 2006. Consultations of Rotfeld and Bot accompanied by experts of the two countries concerned European and international issues and bilateral relations. The abolishment of restrictions in the access to the Dutch labour market was one of the main issues discussed.
Warsaw, March 9: Plans concerning Polish investments in Algeria as well as possibilities of expanding Polish-Algerian economic contacts were discussed Wednesday by Senate Speaker Longin Pastusiak and Algerian Minister for small and medium enterprises Moustapha Benbada. Pastusik said Algeria had at present foreign currency reserves worth 43 bn USD worth and stressed that Algeria wanted to make use of these funds. Minister Benbada said Algeria wanted Poland to get involved in various projects included in Algeria's economic plans. This is a chance for Poland - Pastusiak said. Pastusiak added that Poland's investments in Algeria could be connected with ship building and construction industries.
Warsaw, March 9 : If Poland's miners oppose plans to privatize their industry in a Thursday referendum they will have to be convinced to it by means of intensive negotiation - treasury minister Jacek Socha told reporters in the Sejm Wednesday. Over 120,000 miners from three coal companies and several independent pits will vote on the privatization of Poland's mining industry in a referendum launched by the Miners' Trade Union. Socha assured that at the moment no mines will be sold into private hands. This is only a general direction, a plan that may be realized in future - he said.
Warsaw, March 9: For over two weeks U.S. services were involved in a secret operation in Warsaw to seize an Irani techno spy. He was arrested by anti-terrorists at Warsaw's Okecie airport, the Zycie Warszawy daily reported. Ali Asghara Manzarpour was satellite-located. The U.S. services located signals of his mobile phones, monitored credit cards. They knew how much he paid for lunch. Manzarpour was on a wanted list, after, in contravention of an embargo, he had tried to deliver to Iran a prototype of a spy plane. In the United States Manzarpour faces 50 years in prison. He was arrested on February 17 but the operation was kept secret. "An extradition warrant has been sent by the U.S." - prosecutor Andrzej Kepinski said.
Warsaw, March 9: Daria and Olga Kolacz, a pair of Polish Siamese twins successfully separated in an early-January operation in the Saudi capital Riyadh, have left hospital -Polish ambassador in Saudi Arabia Adam Kulach informed Wednesday. Kulach said the girls, whose operation and 3-month stay in Riyadh were sponsored by Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, were feeling well and would return to Poland at the end of March.
Nicosia, March 16: President Aleksander Kwasniewski arrived in Nicosia on Wednesday evening from Israel where he paid a two-day visit. Before leaving Israel, Kwasniewski met with French PM Jean-Pierre Raffarin. The meeting was held at the initiative of the French side as Raffarin missed a recent Polish-French summit held in France last February. Andrzej Majkowski, presidential international affairs advisor, said that the most difficult topic of the Wednesday meeting was access to the labour market, an issue which the French side does not want to discuss before the French referendum on the EU constitution scheduled for May. In Cyprus, President Kwasniewski will be officially greeted by President Tasos Papadopulos on Thursday morning. Kwasniewski will also meet the Mayor of Nicosia and deliver a lecture at a local university on Poland and Cyprus in the EU.
Warsaw, March 16: Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz wants the Sejm to adopt a resolution on the 60th anniversary of the end of WW2. He believes that the best timing for it would be the Sejm meeting scheduled for May 5-6. "We've got an important session on May 5-6 as then the Sejm will decide whether or not to self-dissolve. It would also be a perfect occasion for the Polish parliament to speak out on all the ramifications of the Moscow ceremonies marking the end of WW2 and scheduled for May 9" - Cimoszewicz said on Wednesday. The speaker believes the resolution should comprise a necessary signal related to the presence of the Polish president at Moscow ceremonies.
Warsaw, March 16: Turkey's EU aspirations were discussed Wednesday by Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz and President of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Buelent Arinc, on a two-day visit to Poland. According to Cimoszewicz, Turkey may join the EU in
8 to 10 years. After the meeting Cimoszewicz told reporters that Turkey would not join the EU very fast. Todate experience shows that negotiations go on for years . The bigger the gap between a medium European development level and a candidate state is the longer the negotiations are - Cimoszewicz explained. Cimoszewicz said Turkey appreciated the fact that sceptical opinions concerning that country's EU membership were not shared by Poland. He also expressed the hope that when the right-wing comes into power in Poland it will not change a position on Turkey's EU accession. On Thursday the President of the Turkish parliament will meet with Prime Minister Marek Belka.
Warsaw, March 16: Prime Minister Marek Belka will meet on Friday with President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso who will pay an official visit to Poland on March 18. The two politicians are expected to discuss the Lisbon Strategy, EU external relations, including EU eastern policy, and the New Financial Prospect. They will also hold a joint press conference. The European Commission president and the Polish prime minister will also attend a conference on the Lisbon Startegy organized by the head of the European Integration Committee Office.
Warsaw, March 16: Foreign Minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld will pay a visit to Geneva on March 17 and 18 to attend a high-level debate of the 61st session of the UN Commission on Human Rights - the Foreign Ministry reported on Wednesday. The foreign minister will address the session to present Poland's initiative concerning "a new political act of the UN" in the context of the reform of the UN system of protection and promotion of human rights. The minister will also deliver a speech during the Conference on Disarmament and will meet with Director General of the UN Office in Geneva and Secretary General of the Conference on Disarmament Sergei Ordzonikidze. Planned is also a meeting with High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Mrs. Louise Arbour.
Ramallah, March 16: Foreign Minister Adam Rotfeld on Wednesday symbolically opened a Polish mission to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah that has been operating for a few months now. "Opening the mission we meet the standards of the European Union. "Old" EU states, as well as Hungary and the Czech Republic, have run their missions for years" - mission head Piotr Puchta said. According to Puchta, Poland has granted "development assistance" to the Palestinian Authority so the mission will mainly coordinate this assistance.
Warsaw, March 16: Cooperation in struggle against terrorism and organized crime is the leading topic of the 3rd international interior ministers meeting of the Council of Europe member states starting here Thursday. Delegations from 38 states, including 23 ministers, will take part, as well as officials of international organizations such as NATO, the U.N., Interpol and Europol. Four working sessions will deal with legal solutions designed to prevent terrorism and organized crime and international cooperation in this field. "There is a number of agreements between the countries of the Council of Europe on fighting organized crime and they are similar on principle, but divergent in certain respects" - interior minister Ryszard Kalisz said Wednesday. "The task is to bring legal instruments in line".
Gov't for setting up EIT in Wroclaw
Warsaw, March 16: The government on Tuesday okayed the idea to set up the European Institute of Technology in Wroclaw, south-western Poland. Minister for Science and Computerisation Michal Kleiber explained the decision quoting the city attractive and picturesque location and support that would be willingly granted by the city authorities and local circles of academics. The proposal to establish the EIT was made by EC President Jose Manuel Barroso in February this year together with a suggestion that the institute be set up in one of new EU member-states. According to Kleiber, Poland is shortlisted for the project together with Hungary and Estonia as well as some of the "old" EU states.
Museum of Modern Art to be build in Warsaw
Warsaw, March 16: A Museum of Modern Art will be created in Warsaw. A respective document was signed between the Ministry of Culture and the Warsaw City authorities on Wednesday. The new centre is to be opened in 8 to 10 years's time in the very heart of Warsaw near the Palace of Culture towering over the capital's central square. Its construction is to be financed from the European Union structural funds for the years 2007-2013. The main task of the centre will be to present Polish 20th century and contemporary art.
Nicosia, March 17: President Aleksander Kwasniewski, on a visit to Cyprus on Thursday, expressed the conviction that the European Union should grow more engaged in the solution of the conflict in the divided island. On Thursday the Polish president met with President of the Republic of Cyprus Tasos Papadopulos . "I got acquainted with the causes due to which a reunification plan was rejected in a referendum. But there is readiness to talks and I believe they will start soon" - President Kwasniewski said and stressed Poland recognized only the Republic of Cyprus. President Kwasniewski stressed Poland would support all U.N. initiatives as well as EU ones if they are launched. According to the Polish president the EU should take more active steps to help solve the conflict. The island of Cyprus has been divided since the 1974 military intervention from Turkey which was against attempts to unite Cyprus with Greece. In 1983 the Turkish-held area declared itself the "Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus". It is recognized only by Turkey. The internationally recognized Greek Cypriot-controlled Republic of Cyprus joined the EU on 1 May 2004. Presidents Kwasniewski and Papadopulos discussed also bilateral relations and EU issues.
Nicosia, March 17: president Aleksander Kwasniewski expressed the conviction that Poland would receive the means promised by U.S. President George W. Bush from the "solidarity initiative" fund. According to President Kwasniewski, now on a visit to Cyprus, the rejection by the House of Representatives of a draft granting Poland means from the fund resulted from political games between the Senate and the House of Representatives of the U.S. Congress. "I do not believe that the official promise made by the head of the world biggest superpower will not be fulfilled" - the Polish president stressed. In accordance with earlier promises in 2006 Poland was to receive one-fourth of the 400 million USD "solidarity initiative" fund which the U.S. Congress was to set up for the nations that joined the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed an emergency war spending bill to cover costs of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan but did not approve some outlays, including the 400 million USD for the "solidarity initiative" fund.
Warsaw, March 17: PM Marek Belka and President of the EC Jose Manuel Durao Barroso will meet in Warsaw on Friday to discuss the Lisbon Strategy, a new EU budget and the EU eastern policy. After bilateral talks Belka and Barroso will take part in a conference titled "Lisbon Strategy - Time to Act", organised by the Office of the Committee for European Integration (UKIE). The conference will be attended by some 350 Polish businessmen, scholars and civil servants. UKIE head Jaroslaw Pietras said Thursday that during the talk two politicians "will touch upon all topics important in our contacts with the European Commission" including Polish participation in the EC work and related employment of Polish citizens by the EC. No Pole has so far been appointed a high ranking EC servant whereas Hungary and the Czech Republic have two representatives each.
Warsaw, March 17: It is very important for the implementation of the Lisbon strategy that work is completed on the draft directive on services - prime minister Marek Belka will declare at the forthcoming EU summit meeting in Brussels on March 22-23. The Polish delegation will display "constructive approach" during discussion of the issue - EU minister Jaroslaw Pietras said here Thursday. On Tuesday the cabinet adopted a position to be presented at the summit saying that Poland deems "the completion of building the single EU market", and in particular the soonest possible completion of work on the service directive, to be the foremost task in the implementation of the Lisbon strategy. Pietras said at a press conference here Thursday that there was nothing unusual in the fact that some groups in some EU countries, notably France, protested over the draft directive. "The prospect of more competition makes various groups concerned about the necessary adjustments" - he said. "We understand a certain domestic sensitivity in France (...) and are ready to negotiate. The negotiations may lead to a compromise." Polish firms would benefit from the liberalisation of trade in services in the EU because they could export services. Poland has a large potential in the service sector, relatively skilled service workers and low labour costs - Pietras pointed out.
Warsaw, March 17: Observance of human rights in the fight with terrorism and organized crime was the essence of an appeal by Council of Europe general secretary Terry Davis at Thursday's 3rd International Meeting of Interior Ministers of the Council of Europe States in Warsaw. Davis admitted terrorism impaired basic human rights, including the right to life, but pointed out that anti-terrorist measures also had to be carried out in consideration of the human rights of terrorists. Among other things Davis pointed to the need for new regulations regarding the protection of witnesses in terrorism cases and the financing of terrorism from the proceeds of organized crime. Polish foreign deputy minister Jan Truszczynski said that the Council of Europe's anti-terrorist activity was founded on conventions on combating terrorism and money laundering (including the financing of terrorism).
Warsaw, March 17: Bayer AG plans its sales in Poland in 2005 to exceed 300 million euros after a 23 percent growth of revenues to 260 million euros - Burghardt Bruhn, the CEO of Bayer Polish branch and Bayer general manager for central Europe told journalists. In Poland, the company covers four areas, namely health protection (pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and veterinary), plant protection, plastics and industrial chemistry.
Cracow, March 17: Cinema City International, the multiplex network operator, expects its investments will reach 200 million USD in coming years - CCI head Mooky Greidinger said. "We invested some 100 million USD in the first stage of the development on the Polish market, similar funds will be allocated in the second stage, with the whole amount to be around 200 million USD" - Greidinger told a press conference in Cracow . Present in Poland since 1999, Cinema City owns 14 facilities in the biggest Polish cities, with a total of 150 cinema screens. This year six new cinemas will open in Elblag, Wloclawek, Torun, Katowice, Poznan and Lodz . "We believe in the Polish market. A statistical Pole goes to the cinema 0.8 time a year, with the figure at around 3 in Western Europe. This shows the potential that is here" - Greidinger said.
Warsaw, March 18: President Aleksander Kwasniewski met on Friday with the visiting delegation of the Turkish Parliament headed by President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Turkey Buelent Arinc, the presidential press office wrote in a communique issued following the meeting. The talk focused on issues linked with cooperation between Poland and Turkey in the context of bilateral and international relations. The sides assessed the present mutual relations as good and pointed to their historic and cultural foundations. They also stressed the need to improve bilateral dialogue within European structures. The President of the Turkish Parliament thanked President Kwasniewski for his supporting Turkey in its strivings for EU membership.
Vilnius, March 18: The Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian Parliamentary Assembly will meet at a founding session in Kiev in May with discussions to focus on helping Ukraine in integration with the EU and Euroatlantic structures. "Poland's and Lithuania's road to Euroatlantic structures has been long and difficult. Now we want to share our experiences with Ukraine. The trilateral meeting will also be a sign of good relations between the three countries, and a special gesture towards Ukraine" - Poland's deputy Jerzy Jaskiernia said. Ukrainian deputy Stanislaw Staszewski asserted that Poland's and Lithuania's declared help for Ukraine in its drive for EU and NATO membership is highly valued in Kiev. Lithuanian deputy Justinas Karosas stressed that the trilateral assembly will not duplicate the work of the existing assemblies: Lithuanian-Polish, Lithuanian-Ukrainian and Polish-Ukrainian. "Bilateral assemblies focus on bilateral cooperation, whereas the newly founded trilateral assembly will concentrate on the cooperation as part of the European Union and NATO" - he said .
Warsaw, March 18: PM Marek Belka and President of the EC Jose Manuel Durao Barroso met on Friday to review the question of appointments of Polish citizens to EC posts, the possibility of reform of the Stabilization Pact, the Lisbon Strategy and a new EU budget as well as the nearest March 22-23 EU summit in Brussels. PM Belka speaking at a joint press conference in Warsaw said he also briefed his guest on Poland's preparations for the ratification of the EU Constitutional Treaty. Barroso said he hopes that all EU countries will ratify the EU Constitutional Treaty either in a referendum or by respective parliaments. According to him the constitution is important for the entire Union as it will improve the functioning of the EU and introduce more transparency and democracy. He added the Union counts on Poland's support of the Constitutional Treaty. Referring to the EU budget for 2007-2013, Barroso said that an agreement on the issue is possible still in June, if EU countries earlier agree on the Lisbon Strategy and the reform of the Stabilization Pact. Asked about the Services Directive, Barroso stressed that the EC is ready to cooperate with the EU Council and European Parliament on the directive. "I trust that we will reach a consensus." Speaking on jobs for Poles in the EC, Barroso stressed Poland has just become a EU member but it has "magnificent people" and as time passes by the country will have a "normal representation" at the EC.
Warsaw, March 18: Foreign Minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld will pay a one-day working visit to Kiev on March 21 - the foreign ministry reported Friday. The ministry wrote in a statement that the Polish minister together with his German counterpart Joschka Fischer plan to demonstrate Poland's and Germany's support for democratic changes in Ukraine. Rotfeld and Fischer will meet Ukrainian Foreign Minister Borys Tarasiuk to discuss Ukrainian prospects for the development of cooperation with European institutions.
Warsaw, March 20: Close to 500 people marched through the streets of Warsaw on Saturday within the Global Day of Protest against the U.S. military presence in Iraq. Iraqis who live in Poland, members of the Stop to War Initiative and The Green 2004 took part in the peaceful picket that ended in front of the Presidential Palace. Similar marches were organised in many cities of the world on Saturday, the eve of the 2nd anniversary of the U.S. intervention in Iraq.
Warsaw, March 18: Interior ministers of the Council of Europe states passed a resolution Friday calling for making every effort to counter terrorism and organised crime as fast as possible. The ministers attended a two-day conference in Warsaw. The resolution emphasises a need to sign and ratify Council of Europe conventions on combating terrorism and organised crime, countering money laundering, terrorism financing, human trafficking. The document stresses the significance of cooperation between the states on these issues. A May summit of the Council of Europe is due to adopt a new convention on terrorism countering. Summing up the conference, Poland's interior minister Ryszard Kalisz said that "the countries show a will to cooperate." He identified "exchange of information with other countries and cooperation of police units specifically trained to fight various kinds of crimes, for instance computer or document forging crimes," as key measures in terrorism fighting. Participants in the meeting were agreed that fight with terrorism must be carried out with respect for the rule of law. "Protection of human rights and basic democratic rules is necessary" - Kalisz said.
Hausner: Poland will get assistance from U.S.
Washington, March 20: Deputy PM Jerzy Hausner has said he was assured by the U.S administration that it would try to restore 100 million USD of military assistance for Poland in this year supplementary budget. Hausner made the statement after meeting vice secretary of state Robert Zoellick. He added that he and Zoellick discussed Polish-U.S. relations "in the context of dialogue with the European Union and Russia and Ukraine." After meeting U.S. Secretary for Commerce Carlos Gutierrez and U.S. businessmen he told a news conference that his visit to Washington was designed to give Polish-U.S. relations an economic dimension apart from political and military cooperation. He stressed that Polish-U.S. relations should be perceived in the context of the place Poland enjoys in the European Union and that the Polish-Amercan alliance should be long-term one. The deputy PM noticed growing interest in investing in Poland stemming from Poland's integration with the EU and the offset agreement for the purchase of F-16 fighter planes. Hausner said that "there is no reason for serious doubts as to the implementation of the offset agreement" and there are no contentious issues as regards this matter. He suggested Poland should patiently wait for the influx of U.S. investments. Hausner also underlined the U.S. interest in Poland buying Boeing planes for LOT airlines and not Europe-made Airbus.
Kiev, March 21: Polish Foreign Minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld and Germany's Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer paid a one-day visit to Kiev on Monday to discuss how Poland and Germany could help Ukraine in the realisation of its pro-European aspiration and support transformations taking place in that country. This was the main topic of the two ministers' talks with their Ukrainian counterpart, Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk. Ukraine should receive from us a common signal that we are not leaving it alone and that we will try to support the process of changes - Rotfeld said earlier in March when he announced his plans to visit Ukraine with his German counterpart. It was the two ministers' intention to convince the Ukrainians to treat the European Union's Ukraine Action Plan as a road bringing that country closer to the Union - Rotfeld told newsmen on his arrival to Kiev and added that the realisation of the Action Plan will also be a confirmation of Ukraine's determination to keep its pro-European orientation. Rotfeld stressed he is convinced some day Ukraine will become an EU member. At a joint press conference Rotfeld and Fischer also declared Poland and Germany would support Ukraine in its striving to join the World Trade Organisation. Tarasyuk announced the trilateral Polish-German-Ukrainian dialogue would be continued and the next consultations will be held in Berlin. According to Rotfeld Yulija Timoshenko said that she and Fischer believe that the key to Europe is in the hands of Ukraine. Rotfeld told reporters that in a short time Ukraine achieved more than one could expect, and nobody can deny that Ukraine is a very important actor on the European scene. Rotfeld and Fischer were also received by President Viktor Yushchenko. According to Rotfeld Yushchenko spoke of his conception of development of relations between Ukraine and the European Union and NATO and referred to his talks with Russian President Vladmir Putin in Kiev last Saturday. According to Rotfeld these talks "showed that relations between Russia and Ukraine start to develop on the basis of partnership and that Russia in a way reconciled with the fact that the process of transformations in Ukraine has a lasting and very deep character".
Warsaw, March 21: Prime Minister Marek Belka, Foreign Minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld and Finance Minister Miroslaw Gronicki will attend a spring meeting of the European Council in Brussels on March 22-23. The meeting will be attended by heads of states and governments of
the 25 EU countries. The meeting is planned to focus on the reform of the Stability and Growth Pact and the mid-term review of the Lisbon Strategy. The 25 foreign ministers will discuss multilateral cooperation, collaboration of international organizations, moves designed to fight terrorism and actions for the non-proliferation of mass destruction weapons.
Warsaw, March 21: A government plan of an information campaign to be waged before the forthcoming referendum on the ratification of the European Constitutional Treaty has been approved by the European Committee of the Council of Ministers, last Friday. Pawel Swieboda, the head of the Foreign Ministry EU department, confirmed on Monday that unlike the previous referendum on Poland's EU accession, this time the government resigned from appointing its commissioner in favour of a "joint centre". The centre is to group representatives of the Office of the European Integration Committee, the Foreign and Internal Affairs Ministries as well as the Chancelleries of the president and the PM, and the Sejm. Swieboda added that PM Marek Belka and former Foreign Minister and now current Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, the two who have signed the treaty will be the two "faces" of the campaign.
Finance Minister on date of Poland's joining eurozone
Brussels, March 21: Polish Finance Minister Miroslaw Gronicki told reporters on Monday that costs of the pension system reform would be taken into account while calculating the budget deficit and that this should help Poland join the eurozone in 2009. Poland, together with Hungary and Slovakia, wanted pension funds to be still considered a part of public finances. This could make it possible for them to not increase budget deficit with costs of the reform. But the EU offered the countries reforming their pension systems only a transition period in the years 2004-2008 when the reform costs could be partially taken into account. But there is still a chance that Poland can limit its budget deficit in 2007 to the required level of 3 percent of GDP - Gronicki said. He also stressed that Poland could enter the eurozone in 2009. The situation looks better than a few months ago - he stressed. The minister also said he was satisfied with the reached compromise but stressed that tough rules of the Stability Pact were still binding. The European Union said that national budget deficits would still not be allowed to exceed 3 percent of GDP and that a country's debt cannot exceed 60 percent of GDP.
Moscow, March 21: The Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday expressed indignation at the decision of Warsaw city authorities to name a round-about in Poland's capital after the late Djokhar Dudayev. In a comment published in the internet pages the Russian Foreign Ministry Press department calls the move an insult to the memory of the Russian victims of the terrorist attacks in Moscow and other Russian towns and a manifestation of support for international terrorism of which the leader of Chechen separatists and national extremists was the follower.
Bielsko-Biala, March 21: About 18 thousand young Jews and Poles will take part in the March of the Living in the former Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp on May 5 - spokesman for the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Jaroslaw Mensfelt said on Monday. Education ministers from the European Union countries who are to meet in Cracow on May
4 will also take part in the march. Planned is also the participation of Presidents Moshe Katsav of Israel and Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland. The participants will march from the entrance gate in the former Auschwitz camp to Birkenau three kilometres away, to pay tribute to the Holocaust victims.
Katowice, March 21: Preparations pending the privatization of Poland's mining industry will be continued, final decisions in this respect will belong to the next government. Halting privatization would mean the loss of World Bank funding for mining reforms - the government announced Monday after miner welfare talks in a trilateral team of government, union and employer representatives. During the talks, focused on the government's December-adopted mining privatization strategy, trade unionists presented the results of a referendum in which almost 97.5 percent of Polish miners opposed privatization.
Sejm pays tribute to Katyn crime victims
Warsaw, March 22: The Sejm paid tribute to the victims of the Katyn crime on Tuesday. A special resolution to this effect was passed by acclamation. Sixty five years ago, 22 thousand Polish POWs - army officers, policemen, civil servants and members of the judiciary, were murdered at Stalin's order in the Russian towns of Tver, Kharkov and the Katyn forest. The resolution stresses that the Sejm expects from the Russian people and Russian authorities the recognition of the murder of Polish prisoners as an act of genocide. The Sejm also expects the explanation of all circumstances of the Katyn crime. In tune with the passed document "the names of all perpetrators of the Katyn crime, not only members of authorities but also the executors should be made public and branded." The Sejm also expressed its regret over the decision of Russian Federation's General Prosecutor's Office to discontinue the investigation into the Katyn crime. " We expect from the Russian side the handing over of all documents gathered in the course of investigations " - the resolution reads in part.
Warsaw, March 22: The visa system introduced by Poland in its relations with eastern partners passed the test - deputy Interior Minister Jakub Wolski told the Sejm foreign affairs committee on Tuesday. Speaking about visa policy and consular service operations in 2004 Wolski recalled that Poland introduced visa requirements for citizens of Russia, Belarussia and Ukraine as of October 1, 2004 as part of preparations for its integration with the EU. Wolski said visas were issued smoothly with some consulates giving out as much as 1000 daily. Lifting of visa requirement for Poles travelling to the United States is the key topic of Polish-U.S. bilateral relations. Wolski said progress can be observed and recalled President Kwasniewski's recent visit to the U.S. and the so-called road map for achieving the purpose agreed on between Kwasniewski and President G.W. Bush. Director of the Consular and Polonia Department at the Foreign Ministry Maciej Szymanski told the MPs that Poland run 137 consulates all over the world. Szymanski stressed standard procedures used by Polish consulates while issuing visas were similar to those used by the Schengen states.
2007 budget gap around 3 pc under new Stability Pact rules
Brussels, March 22: The Polish budget gap will slightly exceed 3 pc of the GDP in 2007 if the compromise reached by EU finance ministers on revisions to the Stability and Growth Pact is approved by EU heads of state, according to finance minister Miroslaw Gronicki. Poland and other countries which reformed their pension systems did not succeed in persuading the rest of the EU on Sunday to approve their postulate that costs of pension reforms should not burden their budget gaps at all. If the agreement reached Sunday holds, Poland's budget deficit in 2007 would be "about 3.3 pc of the GDP, or close to the Maastricht criterion" - Gronicki said Tuesday. He added that under the present system of calculation applied by Poland, the 2007 gap would be 2.2 pc. Gronicki noted that the final decision on revisions to the Pact, including the issue of budget gaps and pension reforms, rested with the heads of government who will meet for a summit starting on Tuesday.
Warsaw, March 22: We can spend some 500 bn zlotys (ca. 170 bn USD) on Poland's modernization in the years 2007-2013 and the money will come from EU funds and domestic sources - Prime Minister Marek Belka told the Sejm Tuesday in a report on the National Development Plan (NPR). "NPR is a programme of using EU membership to develop Poland" - Belka stressed. Listing the main issues to be resolved by implementing NPR Belka spoke of replacing the existing model of the state based on ministries and pressure groups with one based on citizens' and self-governments' role, ensuring that the Polish economy is internationally competitive, transition from production to information civilisation, ensuring high growth rates and limiting poverty. Deputy prime minister Jerzy Hausner said that the draft Plan will provide for proposals of interregional cooperation. "Although we debate on big money, the crux of the matter is in fact how to mend the Polish state" - Hausner emphasized. "Failure to understand this can, under the worst of circumstances, result in the big EU money perpetuating the worst features of the Polish state" - he warned. NPR is a comprehensive programme of socio-economic development providing for drafting 16 provincial plans of regional development. The preliminary version of NPR envisages spending 142 bn euros (over 560 bn zlotys) in 2007-2013 and more than half of that total will come from the EU.
Warsaw, March 22: Another reason for a very slow pace of road building in Poland is that firms seeking road-building contracts hinder or make it impossible to finalise tenders - the Rzeczpospolita daily wrote. No road-building and modernisation tender announced after
1 May 2004 has been finalised. Delays are caused by protests lodged by the firms that submit tenders, which is allowed under a new public procurement law in effect for close to a year. At present eight big tenders worth one billion zlotys are underway. In none the tender submitting deadlines were met. The firms begin to play with an investor still before they submit a tender. They flood a tender organiser with questions in order to put off the tender submitting deadline. The firms lodge complaints about tender requirements, selection criteria, extending the procedures ad infinitum - Rzeczpospolita wrote.
Warsaw, March 22: Opera "King Roger" by Karol Szymanowski, the production of Warsaw's Grand Theatre National Opera presented at the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Kiev, winds up the Polish Year in Ukraine on Tursday. The Polish Year held under the motto "Poland and Ukraine Together in Europe" was inaugurated on March 30, 2004. "Ukrainian Year in Poland" will be inaugurated on April 11, with a variety of cultural events to be held in Warsaw, Cracow and Gdansk in the programme. Planned is an exhibition "For You, Ukraine" organised jointly by museums of Radom and Lvov and concerts of Ukrainian music by soloists of the Warsaw Chamber Opera.
Warsaw, March 22: A variety of cultural events will be in the programme of the Polish Season in Russia starting this March to run till November. This greatest presentation of Polish culture in Russia for years will feature theatre productions, art exhibitions, film reviews and concerts. According to Grzegorz Wisniewski, deputy head of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Warsaw responsible for the Season, the recent deterioration of political relations between Poland and Russia have not a negative impact on cultural relations . On the contrary, culture is an enclave of good understanding between the Poles and Russians - Wisniewski said.
Brussels, March 23: Poland is satisfied with the compromise worked out at the EU summit on the liberalisation of the service sector and on the reform of the Stability and Growth Pact, according to prime minister Marek Belka. The freedom of selling services is for Poland one of main vehicles for using its EU membership to stimulate economic development - he stressed at a press conference after the meeting Wednesday. "We understand concerns of other countries but we will do everything possible to ensure a full, even if gradual, liberalisation of the service sector" - Belka told newsmen. He explained that Poland could not disregard reactions to the liberalisation in some EU member states, notably France. The stakes were too high, because nobody wanted a rejection by France of the EU constitution in a referendum due in May. The EU leaders who met here for the summit agreed that the draft of the directive on services failed to meet all requirements (chiefly social ones) and should be thoroughly modified. For Poland it was most important that the draft would not be rejected but serve as "the basis for further work." Belka said that the summit did not agree to throw out the principle of the country of origin which aroused the greatest controversies and strongest protests from left-wing groups in France and Belgium. To throw the principle out "would have amounted to cancelling the directive and there was no consent to that" - Belka said. Commenting on the summit's decisions on the revision of the Stability and Growth Pact Belka noted that "they are positive insofar as they should not delay Poland's meeting of the (Maastricht) criteria for joining the euro zone ." Luxemburg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker who presides over EU work in the current half-year declared that countries whose budget deficits would exceed the 3 pc of GDP limit only slightly would qualify for the euro zone.
Brussels, March 23 : Polish trade unions, just as French and German, do not want social standards to be lowered - France's President Jacques Chirac told a press conference after the conclusion of an EU summit. The meeting of heads of the EU member states decided that a directive that liberalises services and - according to critics - threatens the lowering of social standards, must be deeply modified. "Polish trade unions also were in the streets of Brussels (during Saturday's demonstration). They defended the same things as the unionists from France and Germany. They do not want social standards to be lowered" - Chirac told journalists. Head of the Foreign Department of the National Commission of the Solidarity trade union Andrzej Adamczyk confirmed that some 100 Polish unionists took part in the demonstration in Brussels. "We do not want social standards to be lowered. The difference between us and French unions is that we are for liberalisation of services. They (the French unionists) also say so but they do not always think so" - Adamczyk said. France's president told a press conference that France was against the maintenance of the "country of origin principle" in the directive on the liberalisation of the market of services in the European Union.
Brussels, March 23: Paul Wolfowitz is a prominent and influential personage and will be a pleasant surprise for public opinion - Polish foreign minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld said Wednesday in Brussels commenting on the U.S. candidate for the World Bank presidency. Rotfeld told journalists after the close of the EU summit in Brussels that Wolfowitz would "play a much better and more positive role" as WB head. Wolfowitz, known as a strong advocate of the U. S. invasion of Iraq, was put up for the World Bank chair by the U.S. administration, which traditionally appoints the World Bank head.
Moscow, March 23: Moscow city authorities Wednesday urged Warsaw to reverse plans to name a roundabout after Chechen independence leader and separatist president Dzokhar Dudayev, killed by Russian forces in 1996. Denouncing the decision as "a hostile act and open provocation" on Warsaw's part, Moscow's city legislature and mayor's office voiced hope that public opinion in Warsaw would lead to its withdrawal. Last week Warsaw authorities voted to honour Dudayev by naming a roundabout on the city's outskirts after him. While Dudayev is viewed as a terrorist by Moscow, Warsaw officials have said they intend to honour him as a symbol of independence and human rights in Chechnya. Russia's foreign minister on Monday called Warsaw's move an "insult" to the memory of Russian victims of Chechen terrorism.
Warsaw, March 23: U.S. inspectors Wednesday viewed an airfield designated to house
5 Hercules transporters given Poland. The planes, built in 1967 and 1968, were previously in use by the British Army. After modernization the machines will be serviceable until 2020. Poland's airforce currently uses CASA C295M transporters with a loading capacity of
9.5 tons.
Kobylanski extradition possible
Warsawe 3, March 23: Jan Kobylanski, a Polish community leader in Uruguay, may be extradited to Poland to answer charges of denouncing Jews during the second world war after the Warsaw-based National Remembrance Institute (IPN) unearthed documents which could warrant extradition. The documents, mostly witness reports confirming Kobylanski's denunciation of a Jewish family in Warsaw, were missing during a 1955 case against Kobylanski, which was dropped. Justice minister Andrzej Kalwas said today that the papers will have to be analyzed before decisions on Kobylanski's extradition can fall. He added that the failure of an extradition accord with Uruguay would be "no hindrance" in Kobylanski's case as genocide charges were not subject to limitation laws.
Brussels, March 23: The PMs of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia have sent a joint letter to President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso with an appeal to include the so called Amber Project into a list of EU-co-sponsored priority projects. Marek Belka, Algirdas Brazauskas and Aigars Kalvitis wrote that the construction of a gas pipeline called Amber Project may be perceived as an alternative to the 2nd stretch of the Yamal pipeline and as such meets half-way the EU interests. The pipeline, that would carry gas from Russia to Germany via Latvia, Lithuania, the Kaliningrad district and Poland should acquire a proper weight - the PMs wrote.
Warsaw, March 24 : There are attempts within NATO to exert pressure on Poland to increase its involvement in Afghanistan - Senate Speaker Longin Pastusiak told a press conference on Thursday. Pastusiak paid a visit to Afganistan following an invitation from NATO general commander gen. James Jones, together with a delegation of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. The delegation met Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzaj and members of the Afghan government. Currently there are around 100 Polish troops, chiefly sappers, in Afghanistan. Pastusiak said it is still unclear how much the Polish contingent in Afghanistan could be expanded. "For the time being we are receiving political signals" - the Senate speaker said. Pastusiak recalled that there are plans to take over command over NATO forces in Afghanistan by a Multinational Danish-German-Polish North East Corps. He described the situation in Afghanistan as "unstable" with 50 percent of the country's territory controlled by NATO troops and the rest still being the scene of fights between U.S. forces and Talibs. The Senate speaker identified the condition of the Afghan economy as a great problem. Pastusiak cited Afghanistan's president as saying that 40-60 percent of the country's revenue came from drug trafficking.
Divaniyah, March 24: The Iraqi security forces received a shipment of military hardware from Poland Thursday. Deputy minister of defense Janusz Zemke present at the ceremony said that Polish soldiers were in Iraq not to "stay indefinitely, but to help the Iraqis." A delegation of the Polish defense ministry headed by Zemke came to the Echo military base in Divaniyah to meet Polish soldiers on the eve of Easter Holidays. Zemke will stay until March 27. On Thursday he took part in the ceremony of handing over military equipment to soldiers of the Iraqi 8th division.
Warsaw, March 24: The New York Times editorial office, using Rzeczpospolita daily as intermediary, apologises for publishing a sentence about Polish responsibility for WW2 concentration camps. A related phrase appeared in a recent coverage of ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi death camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau. The editors of this influential editorial paper assure that they do not try to cement Poland's image as a country of anti-Semitism and distanced themselves from the notion "Polish death camps." They wrote that the fact that American media often use the phrase "Polish death camps" is rarely a result of ill-will but often stems from a stereotype rooted in history.
IPN broke law on personal data protection - Chief Inspector
Warsaw, March 24: The Chief Inspector of Personal Data Protection (GIODO) Ewa Kulesza decided that the National Remembrance Institute (IPN) broke the law on protecting personal data bases. Her decision follows the conclusion of an inspection carried out by GIODO staffers. IPN violated the law by failing to register its data bases with GIODO, failing to install adequate protection against unauthorised copying of data and against unauthorised access, GIODO claims. Moreover, IPN has no control over who, when and how provides data and copies them. The inspection followed a leak of data from IPN on communist-era secret service collaborators knows as the Wildstein list. IPN deputy chairman Grzegorz Ciecierski denied GIODO charges Thursday and said the Institute would appeal against GIODO's findings to administrative court.
Warsaw, March 24: The National Remembrance Institute IPN has found documents indicating that Polish-born businessman from Urugway Jan Kobylanski, who has sponsored radical Catholic radio Maryja and Trwam tv, denounced Jews to Nazi Gestapo during WW2. The documents may constitute the basis for his extradition - head of IPN Leon Kieres said Thursday. The documents disappeared in 1955 and being recognised as lost were the basis for dropping procedures against Jan (formerly Janusz) Kobylanski. Kieres said that preserved were testimonies of witnesses which "gave no room for doubts that Janusz Kobylanski denounced to German Nazis a Jewish family that had promised him money in gold coins for false documents which would help them survive the horror of war." Kieres explained that the IPN would motion the justice minister for Kobylanski's extradition because giving the Jewish family away to German Nazis, being aware that it was tantamount to the family's death, was genocide and this crime is not subject to statutory limitations. Justice Minister Andrzej Kalwas stressed further actions in the case of Kobylanski require the analysis of IPN documents. However, he believed that lack of an agreement on extradition with Urugway would not be an obstacle to extradite him considering the weight of charges. Kieres said IPN lacked proof that Kobylanski was also a Soviet spy though he knew from mass media that such a document exists. According to Gazeta Wyborcza daily from June 2004 Kobylanski, now 82-year-old, was sent to concentration camps but his role there was ambiguous and a lot indicates that he left Europe via ODESSA network, built to save former Nazis from European courts. While in Uruguway he was Poland's honorary consult for 10 years until being removed by then Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Bartoszewski for slandering Home Army legendary war-time courier Jan Nowak-Jezioranski.
Warsaw, March 24: A motion for the extradition from the U. S. of Polish-born businessman Edward M. (name withheld) will be ready next week, the Polish justice ministry announced Thursday. M. is charged with inciting the 1998 shooting of Poland's police chief Marek Papala. Inquiries into the killing have since unearthed a ring of connections leading among others to Vienna and the U. S., of which M. is a citizen. A European arrest warrant for M. was issued early in March. Andrzej Kepinski from the justice ministry said today that M. would be charged with inspiring Papala's execution but not, as some media speculated, with aiding organized crime. M. was arrested in Poland on the same grounds three years ago but soon released and allowed to leave the country.
Moscow, March 24: Opening of the paintings exhibition titled "Moscow-Warsaw, Warsaw-Moscow, 1900-2000" here Thursday started the Polish Season in Russia, the largest presentation of Polish culture here for many years. The exhibition, under the patronage of the presidents of Poland and Russia, offers 400 works from the largest national collections. The opening ceremony was attended by culture minister Waldemar Dabrowski and ambassador to Moscow Stefan Meller. The Polish Season in Russia is a reciprocal event following the Russian Season in Poland held between November, 2004 and January, 2005.
Warsaw, March 28: Senate Speaker Longin Pastusiak will start a two-day visit to Slovakia. The Senate speaker will meet with Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic, PM Mikulas Dzurinda and head of the Slovak Parliament Pavol Hrusovsky. Planned is also a meeting with Poles living in Slovakia. Pastusiak told that during his meetings at the Slovak parliament he was planning to exchange experience concerning the work of European parliamentary committees in the two countries. Speaking about bilateral relations, Pastusiak stressed the role of the Visegrad Group. Our two countries believe that joining the EU should not weaken regional cooperation. (...) We want to convince Czechs and Hungarians that we should cooperate closely and coordinate the position of our four countries towards the EU, Pastusiak stressed.
Warsaw, March 25: Speaker of the Spanish Chamber of Deputies Manuel Martin will pay an official visit to Poland on March 29 to meet his Polish counterpart Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, the Spanish Embassy reported. Mr. Manuel Martin will be received by President Aleksander Kwasniewski and will meet with the Polish deputy Senate speaker. Besides, Spanish MPs of the parliamentary group of friendship with the Polish Sejm will visit Warsaw and Cracow on March 30 and 31. They will be received by deputy Sejm Speaker Tomasz Nalecz and deputy chairman of the Sejm foreign affairs committee Tomasz Nalecz.
Warsaw, March 25: Economists expect that the Monetary Policy Council (RPP) will lower interest rates during its meeting next week. They believe that the expected move will start a series of interest rate cuts. According to a recent PAP poll, the majority of economists expect a 50 bp interest rate cut next week and interest rate cuts reaching 125 bps in the entire year 2005. In late February RPP changed bias in monetary policy from restrictive to easy and left interest rates unchanged. February's inflation fell to 3.6 percent from 3.7 percent in January and 4.0 percent in December 2004.
Warsaw, March 29: Economic sentiment indicator predicting conditions during the months ahead rose in February by 1.2 point, Bureau for Investments and Economic Cycles (BIEC) wrote in a communique issued. "In recent months the indicator informed us about a moderate trend in the economy. That is why economic development pace in coming months will be considerably below expectations raised by the success of the 1st half of last year. However, chances still are for the economic growth to gather momentum in the 2nd half of the year," Maria Drozdowicz from BIEC wrote. According to Drozdowicz shrinking products reserves give the hope for maintaining to-date production tempo but at the same time we witness a considerable decrease in orders, especially those from abroad, and poor consumers' moods.
Warsaw, March 28: A monumental glass piano and a part of the Wieliczka salt mine are the main sections of the Polish Pavilion at the World EXPO 2005 in Aichi, Japan. In the "Wieliczka" section visitors have a chance to encounter the unique atmosphere of the most famous and most beautiful Polish salt mine. The walls of the room are made of original blocks of salt brought from Poland. The 2005 World Exposition in Aichi opened on March 25 and will last until September 25, 2005. The expected number of visitors is approximately 15 million.
Warsaw, March 29: "Intellectuals' complaints over a crisis of the left-wing has led them to believe that Poland needs a U.K. Labour Party-like left-wing. This is not true. Poland does not need any left wing," writes expert of the Adam Smith Centre Andrzej Sadowski in the issue of Fakt daily. Sadowski believes that the left-wing has had scores of years all over the world and in Poland to show the results of its ruling. A number of its ideas were programmed for bringing detrimental results. Welfare solutions proposed by the left-wing lead directly to poverty as the ideology of the left-wing does not favour richness and the use of potential in people but promotes poverty. Also in Poland left-wing has had a destructive influence on the system of social values. So the sooner this ideology disappears from the political scene the quicker barriers hampering the country development will be removed.
Warsaw, March 28: Poles are increasingly willing to use Visa and MasterCard cards to pay for their purchases, according to 2004 data released by Visa and Mastercard. The value of Visa card transaction in Poland rose 17.8 percent to the equivalent of 22.2 billion euros in 429 million transactions in 2004 (this relates to payments for purchases and money taken out of the cash machines). Visa noticed a faster growth of cashless payments value - by 25.8 percent with their value at 3.8 billion euros last year. The number of cashless transactions rose by 30.2 percent to 136.4 million euros in 2004 from 2003. The number of Visa credit cards rose 59.7 percent to 1.3 million. There was a total of 10.5 million Visa cards on the Polish market at the end of 2004. Mastercard said that the value of MasterCard card transactions rose 21.5 percent in Poland to 1.1 billion USD in 2004. The data concern 900 thousand MasterCard credit cards and cards with postponed payment date, without Maestro debit cards.
Cimoszewicz to discuss EU matters in Slovenia
Warsaw, March 29: Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz will pay a visit to the Republic of Slovenia between Wednesday and Friday to discuss matters concerning the European Union budget for 2007-2013 and EU-Croatia relations. In Slovenia Cimoszewicz will meet with President Janez Drnovsek, PM Janez Jansa and Parliament President France Cukjati. Cimoszewicz told newsmen Tuesday that his visit to Slovenia was planned long ago. "Apart from bilateral Polish-Slovenian questions, in which there are no controversial issues, we shall concentrate on the EU financial prospects " - he said. In Cimoszewicz's opinion the two countries should keep in mind that political decisions concerning the financial perspective should be made still this year. "A prolonged process of discussions will be a threat to the interests of beneficiaries" - the Sejm speaker assessed. Cimoszewicz expects his visit to Slovenia should provide a good opportunity to discuss the situation in the Balkans in the context of EU accession talks with Croatia. According to Cimoszewicz, being Croatia's neighbour Slovenia is a good partner to discuss whether Croatia fulfils the conditions to start negotiations on the planned date. Cimoszewicz assured that Poland "in general favours Croatia's aspirations, although it supports the EU stand as regards conditions necessary to start negotiations."
Cimoszewicz discusses EU with Spain's Manuel Martin
Warsaw, March 29: Ratification of the European constitution and the EU's financial prospects for the years 2007-2013 were discussed during the meeting of Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz with Speaker of Spanish Chamber of Deputies Manuel Martin, on an official visit to Poland Tuesday. Speaking to newsmen after the meeting Cimoszewicz recalled that Spain had already made its decision about the constitution in a referendum in which
77 percent accepted the document. "As for EU's financial prospects we are facing a potential Polish-Spanish controversy, especially in the situation of a limited budget" - Cimoszewicz admitted. " Here the stand of the Corteses may be important " - he assessed. According to Cimoszewicz during the Tuesday meeting he heard assurances that under no circumstances Spain would propose anything that would reduce Poland's financial advantages. Also on the meeting agenda were Poland's position on Eastern Europe and Poles' access to the Spanish labour market. The Spanish guest said he came to Poland to boost Polish-Spanish parliamentary contacts and stressed that the two countries should closely cooperate within the EU. He also offered help in the upcoming European debate in Poland and added that it is important to cooperate in working out negotiation stands for the European summit.
Poland to repay 3.3 bln euros to Paris Club on March 31
Warsaw, March 29: Poland will make an early repayment of 3.3 bln of its debt to the Paris Club on March 31 - deputy Finance Minister Wieslaw Szczuka told at a press conference after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. With the repayment on March 31 Poland will pay around
26.4 percent of the total debt to the Paris Club - Szczuka said. On Tuesday the government discussed the repayment of the debt dating back to the 1970's to Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark and Finland and Canada. In the coming weeks Poland will prepare payments for the U.S., Switzerland, Sweden and Spain. Negotiations with other creditors are under way but Japan and Belgium have already turned down Poland's offer - he added. Szczuka explained that an early payment is beneficial for Poland. He also said that on March 31 Poland would also pay 900 million euros of its regular repayment to the Paris Club.
EC: Poland delays introduction of EC directives
Brussels, March 29: Poland is the only country which delays the introduction of
112 emergency phone number for which it may be sued before the Justice Tribunal in Luxembourg - spokesman for the European Commission Martin Selmayr said Tuesday. The service should be available via operators of fixed line phones and cellular networks. The spokesman added the EC has examined Poland's case - why fixed line operators have not made No 112 available - since December as a related directive was to come into force on
May 1, 2004. Poland also postpones the implementation of another EU directive allowing for changing the cell phone operator without the need for changing the number.
2004 food sales up 30 percent
Warsaw, March 29: Poland's food exports in 2004 rose over 31 percent against the preceding year, largely thanks to EU-financed upgrades on the food market - Agriculture Minister Wojciech Olejniczak said Tuesday. Food sales to the EU rose 37 percent. The biggest rise in food sales came after Poland's May 1, 2004 EU accession - Olejniczak said. In 2004 Poland exported 5.2 bn Euros' worth of food products (4 bn Euros' worth in 2003), mostly meat and meat products, dairy products, pastries, fruit and vegetables. Poland's main EU food export markets are Germany, Holland and Great Britain.
Stocks: new public trading laws
Warsaw, March 29: Three new laws will replace Poland's current securities trading act - Finance Viceminister Andrzej Jacaszek informed after Tuesday's government sitting. Jacaszek explained that the new laws will be adjusted to EU legislation and enable the introduction of latest public trading solutions. Under the new laws stock traders would have better access to information about major public shareholders, also foreseen are protection mechanisms for smaller stockholders. The term public trading would be replaced by "public offer", also planned is a new prospectus and easier access to the Polish stock market by players from other EU countries.
Poland plans 400 mln Swiss franc bond issue
Warsaw, March 29: The Finance Ministry is planning in April a foreign bond issue for the Swiss market. The issue is planned to stand at the level similar to last year's issue of
400 million Swiss franc - deputy Finance Minister Wieslaw Szczuka told reporters on Tuesday. The Finance Ministry is planning to place bonds on the Swiss market - Szczuka told reporters after a cabinet meeting and added that the transaction would be conducted in April. Szczuka also added that the ministry was looking at the eurobond market and added that this would be probably the next candidate.
Kwasniewski, Aliyev on cooperation, Caspian Sea oil
Warsaw, March 30: Poland is very interested in big projects concerning the transmission of crude oil and gas from the Caspian Sea region to Europe which have been presented by Azerbaijan to the EU - said President Aleksander Kwasniewski on Wednesday following talks with Azeri president Ilham Aliyev. We discussed the possibility of including in the projects the Odessa-Brody-Gdansk stretch - Kwasniewski told a news conference. President Aliyev, on the two-day official visit to Poland said talks on including Poland in the project were underway. He stressed that Azerbaijan had always supported the extension of Odessa-Brody-Gdansk pipeline. Kwasniewski added he had discussed the stepping up of the pipeline construction with Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko and that in his opinion Ukraine seemed to be interested in joining the project. The Polish president said Poland supported Azeri efforts to establish closer cooperation with the EU, NATO and WTO and was ready to share its experience in this field. During the visit three agreements between both governments were signed: on economic cooperation, on cooperation and mutual assistance in customs issues and on cooperation in defence. According to Kwasniewski also agreements on cooperation between SMEs and labour markets as well as letters of intent on cooperation in agriculture and education will be signed. According to the Polish president a peaceful solution to Azeri-Armenian conflict about Nagorno-Karabakh was feasible but, as the president stressed, the decision hinged on Armenia and Azerbaijan. Asked about Poland's official stand in case of Azeri democratic revolution gathering momentum Kwasniewski said Poland persistently supported democracy, civil society, democratic institutions and the freedom of mass media. President Aliyev said his country was in the process of making investor-friendly laws and expected an increased number of Polish investments.
Pastusiak, Hrusovsky discuss Visegrad Group's future
Bratislava, March 30: Speaker of the Polish Senate Longin Pastusiak and Speaker of the National Council of the Slovak Republic Pavol Hrusovsky assessed on Wednesday the cooperation within the Visegrad Group and discussed its future. Pastusiak started a two-day visit to Slovakia on Tuesday. Addressing a press conference following their talk the two criticised the idea to broaden the Visegrad Group. The Group was set up in 1991 by Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. In the afternoon Pastusiak is scheduled to hold meetings with the Slovak President and PM.
Rotfeld discusses Trans-Dniester in Bucharest
Bucharest, March 30: Polish Foreign Minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld said Wednesday that Ukraine had a very significant role to play in solving the conflict with the Trans-Dniester Moldavian Republic. The conflict in the Trans-Dniester region was one of the main subjects discussed by the Foreign Minister in Bucharest during his meetings with Romanian deputy PM Bela Marko and his Romanian counterpart Mihai-Razvan Ungureanu. Rotfeld stressed that the orange revolution in Ukraine creates conditions for a lasting solution of the conflict. According to Rotfeld, being a neighbourly country Ukraine could play an important role. If Ukraine was able to control its border, though it is not simple, this could help solve the conflict - Rotfeld stressed. The Transdniestrian Moldovian Republic declared its independence from Moldova on 2 September 1990 after a bloody war. The republic has been not recognized on the international arena. On Wednesday evening Rotfeld is leaving for Moldova where he will meet with the authorities in Kishinev and separatists from Trans-Dniester. The minister will pay the visit as chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.
U.S. administration on extradition
Washington, March 30: The U.S. administration claims it makes no difference between their citizens and citizens of other countries in cases involving extradition. This stand would enable extradition to Poland of Edward Mazur, a U.S. passport holder and Chicago resident, suspected of commissioning the killing of Police chief General Marek Papala. Spokesman for the U.S. Department of justice Michael Kulftad confirmed this stand on Wednesday. However, he refused to elaborate on the case of Edward Mazur. The Polish government is preparing a motion for Mazur's extradition. On the basis of a 1999 agreement both governments may but do not have to extradite their citizens. According to diplomats the U.S. very seldom agrees on the extradition of its own citizens but often strips people suspected of lying to the immigration office of the U.S. citizenship and expels them from the country.
PM: Council of Europe summit to cause less inconvenience
Warsaw, March 30: Over 40 presidents and prime ministers will attend a Council of Europe summit due to be held in Warsaw on May 16 and 17. Prime Minister Marek Belka said that the summit should be causing less nuisance to Warsaw residents than last year's European Economic Summit did. "The summit will be a big operation, but comparable with last year's economic summit. We want it, unlike last year's event, not to cause so much inconvenience for Warsaw residents, so - the city will be open, rather than closed as was the case last year" - the prime minister told reporters after his visit to the Warsaw police headquarters. "We want the city to be peaceful, we want everybody to feel that it is holiday and not some kind of a war" - Warsaw police commander Ryszard Siewierski said.
Inaugural meeting of Joint Counter-terrorism Working Group
Warsaw, March 30: An inaugural meeting of the Polish-U.S. Joint Counter-terrorism Working Group will be held in Warsaw on Thursday. The meeting will be chaired by Interior Minister Ryszard Kalisz and U.S. Ambassador to Poland Victor Ashe. Kalisz and Ashe are scheduled to hold a press conference. The group is planned to focus on counter-terrorism cooperation, which is to include exchange of information and experience as well as exchange of experts and joint training.
Gazeta Wyborcza on honorary doctorate for Butenandt
Warsaw, March 30: In 1994 the Gdansk Technical University granted a honoris causa doctorate to 1939 Nobel Prize Laureate Adolf Butenandt who turned out to be a collaborator of Dr. Josef Mengele, the Angel of Death, from the Auschwitz Nazi death camp - the Gazeta Wyborcza daily wrote on Wednesday. The news has been a real shock. Last week "der Spiegel" revealed that Butenandt's team worked on human tissues it received from Mengele from Auschwitz. Butenandt received the distinction from the Gdansk Technical University because before World War Two he was director of the Institute for Organic Chemistry at the Institute of Technology in Gdansk where he started his work on human hormones. Butenandt died three months after he had received the honorary doctorate from the Gdansk Technical University.
Rotfeld: Russia's positive evolution on Katyn
Bucharest, March 31: Polish Foreign Minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld believes that the recent statement by the Russian Foreign Ministry on the Katyn crime was a "positive evolution of the Russian position". "Russia has reacted in a very rational way to the Polish Sejm resolution of March 22" - Rotfeld said in an interview for the Ziua daily on Thursday. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that it considered the joint statement by the Polish and Russian presidents made at the signing of the 1992 treaty on friendship and good neighbourly cooperation as the fundamental position on the issue.
Rotfeld talks to separatists from TransDnestr
Tiraspol, March 31: Foreign Minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld on Thursday met with leaders of TransDnestr, a self-declared Moldova's Republic, to help pave the way for talks between the separatists and the authorities in Kishinev. "We did not have concrete talks but the point was to start the process of talks, so far non-existent" - Rotfeld said after meeting Sergei Leontiev, the deputy president of the republic. Rotfeld recalled that in 1992 he was a OSCE representative for regulating the crisis in the region. The initiative failed then and the situation has remained unresolved. "Since then the world has changed and here it seems that the time stands still" - the Polish minister said. Russia-oriented TransDnestr republic split from Moldova in 1992. In talks with the Moldova's authorities Rotfeld insisted on paying a visit there because, as he argued, arguments of two sides should be heard. This time Rotfeld was paying the visit as a chairman of the Council of Europe Ministerial Committee as Poland has been holding the organisation's rotating presidency.
Azeri president at universities in Cracow, Warsaw
Cracow, March 31: Azeri President Ilham Aliyev accompanied by his wife and daughter visited Cracow on Thursday, the second and last day of his visit to Poland. The guests visited the Jagiellonian University and the university museum in Collegium Maius. The presidential couple toured Cracow's Market and former Jewish district of Kazimierz.
Sudanese foreign affairs minister arrives in Poland
Warsaw, March 31: Sudanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Mustafa Osman Ismail will arrive in Poland on Monday, April 4, on the official visit at the invitation of his Polish counterpart Adam Daniel Rotfeld - the foreign ministry reported. The ministers will chair plenary talks of the two countries delegations on bilateral relations, international and regional issues including peace process in Sudan and Darfur region.
Szymczycha: Jaruzelski to attend Moscow WW2 ceremonies
Warsaw, March 31: Secretary of State at the Presidential Chancellery Dariusz Szymczycha confirmed Thursday that a group of Polish war veterans with former president general Wojciech Jaruzelski had been invited to attend World War Two commemorations in Moscow. "The commemorations have been organized by the Russians who are inviting people and politicians they want. They have invited President Aleksnader Kwasniewski, a group of Polish WW2 veterans and general Wojciech Jaruzelski as the man who is a political symbol and a symbol of brotherhood of arms" - Szymczycha said. The minister admitted that from the Polish point of view it would be better if the Russians also invited former president Lech Walesa and Poland's last president in exile Ryszard Kaczorowski.
Joint Counter-terrorism Working Group meets
Warsaw, March 31: Exchange of information concerning counter-terrorism and exchange of experts as well as legal solutions in this field were the main subjects of an inaugural meeting of the Polish-U.S. Joint Counter-terrorism Working Group in Warsaw on Thursday. Interior Minister Ryszard Kalisz said the group had been divided into ten sub-groups which are to deal with bioterrorism, cybercrime, border protection and terrorism financing . Experts are scheduled to meet at least four times a year but sub-groups much more often - Kalisz said. On behalf of the U.S. side the group is chaired by U.S. Ambassador to Poland Victor Ashe. It also includes U.S. defence and law experts. The Polish team is led by secretary of the intergovernmental centre for organized crime and international terrorism Jozef Semik. The Polish-U.S. Joint Counter-terrorism Working Group was the first such initiative in Europe.
Poland in police programme
Warsaw, March 31: Policemen from Lithuania, Ukraine, Russia's Kaliningrad District and Poland will train management and border crime combating in a UNDP-cofunded programme to be supervised by Poland. The aim of the Polish-initiated programme, entitled Raising Police Competency Levels in Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine and Russia (Kaliningrad), is the streamlining and EU-adjustment of police procedures in Poland and its neighbouring countries. The scheme is partly financed by the Dutch government.
National IT Plan ready
Warsaw, March 31: A National Computerization Plan in the form of a bill to be signed by the president this week will help in the building of a European-standard information society in Poland - the Polish science ministry announced Thursday. "Information is becoming a basic product with IT as its tool" - reads a document entitled Information Society in Poland: Aims and Directions prepared by the Scientific Research Committee (KBN). The February
17-adopted National Computerization Plan will embrace government agencies, courts, local governments, the health service and other public institutions.
Social Council on countering inheritance of poverty
Warsaw, March 31: The Social Council attached to the prime minister's office wants the National Development Plan for 2007-2013 to include measures designed to counteract inheritance of poverty. Discussing the Plan, members of the Council stressed that the document in its present shape does not create favourable conditions for limiting social stratification and inheritance of poverty. The Council believes that economic growth alone would not help to overcome poverty. The Council was set up in November 2004 to deal with issues of the poor. It groups academics, economists, social activists, representatives of non-governmental organisations.
Andersen Year in Poland
Warsaw, March 31: Exhibitions, seminars and competitions are on the programme of the Thursday-inaugurated Hans Christian Andersen Year in Poland. The Polish celebrations will be part of a worldwide Andersen reminiscence marking the Danish storywriter's 200th birthday. Hans Christian Andersen will also be a patron of this May's International Book Fair in Warsaw.Based on the service of the Polish Press Agency (PAP)
More information is available at the website– http://www.pap.com.pl