News Maggio 2005

Warsaw, May 1: Leaders, members and sympathizers of leftwing parties, organization and trade unions took part in numerous marches and rallies around the country to mark May Day.

This year's traditional Warsaw May Day march attracted only some 500 participants, including SLD leader Jozef Olesky, Marek Pol of of the Union of Labour, head of the SdPL Marek Borowski as well as one of the leader of the Italian left-wing Guliano Amato.Members of far-left parties, including the Communist Part of Poland, tried to disorganize the march but after a "war on words," the march went on as scheduled. Majority of marches, rallies and ceremonies held across the country passed quite and without any disturbances which have happened in the past years and attracted as in Warsaw, rather moderate crowds of people.

Warsaw, May 1: The combination of May Day and the anniversary of Poland's integration with the European Union is very fortunate, said President Aleksander Kwasniewski during a traditional May Day feast in the Presidential Gardens. He underlined that the combination of both events had become a symbol. "It reminds us that the EU is tantamount to work. By working well we build a strong Poland in a strong Europe," Kwasniewski said. The president said that after the first year in the EU Poland has become one of the most dynamically developing states of the continent. Different type of black scenarios presented by EU adversaries proved to be untrue, he said and stressed that Poland benefited as a state and, advantages were also taken by its society, farmers, local government and businessmen. Now Poland faces a successive important decision which is the ratification of the European Union Constitutional Treaty. Some politicians want to discourage people to support the treaty but I think that Poles will opt for a common Europe, the president said.Former Italian PM Giuliano Amato, present at the meeting said that if the treaty fails to be ratified two groups of states will be formed within the EU, namely the old 15 states and the new 10 countries. That is why, he argued, the constitution ensures future for a unified EU. Kwasniewski also referred to the May Day falling on May 1 and recalled the teachings of late Pope John Paul II who used to say that work is for people and not people for work. The president mentioned high unemployment level in Poland and pointed out that it may be curtailed by economic mechanisms, and citizens' activity and economy-oriented way of thinking. At the end of the president's 2nd term Poland was better than it had been 10 years ago when he took the office but it still fell short of being a Poland of dreams coming true, concluded the president.

Warsaw, May 1: The past year was one of the best periods in Poland's history, the countryhas become stronger in every sphere, President Aleksander Kwasniewski wrote in a letter addressed to participants of ceremonies held at three presidential residences in Jurata, Ciechocinek and Wisla to mark the 1st anniversary of Poland's EU membership. Poland showed that it was able to take advantage of chances offered by integration. Our economy is quickly developing, export is on the rise, new foreign investments are flowing in to Poland, our international position is strengthening, wrote the president. Kwasniewski stressed Poland will face a new test; referendum on the European Treaty. The president believes that Poles have convinced themselves to integration and will continue to support its further development.

Borowski decides to run for president

Warsaw, May 1: President Aleksander Kwasniewski has attached importance to the decision of Marek Borowski (the leader of the Social Democracy of Poland SdPl) to run for presidency but said this is an opportunity for the left-wing to reach an agreement on a single candidate. According to the presently ruling Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) the left-wing should field Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz as the single candidate for the presidency. In Kwasniewski's opinion, the situation when there are two candidates will lead to one of them supporting the other who stands better chances for winning the race. According to the president decisive will be direct meetings with the voters, not pre-electoral polls. - Head of the Social Democracy of Poland SdPl Marek Borowski is the third official candidate for presidency after Warsaw President Lech Kaczynski and Samoobrona head Andrzej Lepper. Borowski made public his willingness to run in the race at the party presidential convention on Saturday. His declaration was received with disappointment by politicians of the Democratic Left Alliance SLD who believed Borowski's decision will complicate the selection of a single left-wing candidate. Borowski said he would like to speak out for entire Poland's left-wing and for all voters of moderate political views. He presented himself as a candidate of those who "opt for a Poland of equal opportunities, for Europe, dialogue, tolerance and moderation and who are against aggression, radical frenzy and the destruction of what Poland had managed to build. "If I win I will guarantee normalcy, common sense and an honest Poland," he promised. According to SLD secretary general Marek Dyduch Borowski's declaration would make it more difficult to name a single left-wing candidate. "Announcing his candidacy Borowski almost wasted the chance for reaching an agreement on the matter. He puts everybody with their backs to the wall and says: Okay I agree with the idea of a single candidate provided it is myself," Dyduch said. However, the agreement is still possible if members of the SLD, SdPl and the Union of Labour UP could choose between Borowski and Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz in a referendum. In a recent CBOS presidential poll Cimoszewicz was supported by 15 percent of would-be voters while Borowski gained the support of 13 percent of prospective voters.

Berlin, May 1: Poland closes the first year of its membership of the European Union with satisfaction, President Aleksander Kwasniewski has told a news conference in Berlin on Saturday. He expressed the hope that France would adopt the EU Constitutional Treaty. According to the Polish president even if France tells "no" to the EU constitutional Treaty the EU enlargement process should continue with Ukraine becoming a community member in a score of years if, of course, its meets binding standards. The Polish president said that Polish-German relations would not be affected by a right-wing government in Poland as the foundations had been laid and could not be changed though the accents of relations may be different. Koehler assured journalists that Germany would cooperate with any government chosen in elections in Poland. He said he did not expect major changes after elections. Earlier Kwasniewski and his German opposite number Horst Koehler attended a concert inaugurating the Polish-German Year 2005-2006.The German president announced he would pay an official visit to Poland this fall. Let the Polish-German Year be for our nations the time of intensive dialogue, openness, tolerance and reconciliation, President Kwasniewski appealed Berlin the concert. President Koehler stressed that this year provides the opportunity to better mutual understanding. Both presidents mentioned the anniversary of the EU enlargement and the 60th anniversary of the end of WW2 that falls next Sunday. Both also pointed out that German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected Pope Bendict XVI to follow in the footsteps of late Polish born Pope John Paul II. Kwasniewski recalled that in four months Poland will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the formation of the Solidarity trade union, led by so skilled an electrician who short-circuited Europe to changes for which he was granted the Nobel Peace Prize. The Polish president also recalled that this November will mark the 40th anniversary of a letter sent by Polish bishops to their German opposite numbers with words: "We forgive and we ask forgiveness" as well as the Memorandum of the German Evangelical Church. Kwasniewski stressed a totally different dimension to the two countries neighbourhood provided by their participation in the EU and NATO. He underlined the importance of openness and dialogue as the best antidote for old grudges and stereotypes. Both presidents made their statements in their native languages though President Kwasniewski said his last sentences in German. The Polish-German Year 2005-2006 is the biggest foreign project promoting Poland and the Polish culture at the turn of 2005 and 2006. This joint programme of both governments will be implemented until may 2006 under the slogan "Creative Stress."

Warsaw, May 9: I have returned from the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War Two in the deep conviction that the presence there of the Polish president was not only called for but necessary, Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski said Monday in Warsaw after returning from the Moscow festivities. The event I attended was certainly of crucial international and political importance, Kwasniewwski said, adding that his absence from the ceremony would have been "a mistake with bigger or smaller consequences for Polish-Russian relations". Kwasniewski called Russian state head Vladimir Putin' much-criticised speech at the ceremony (during which he omitted to mention Poland among the anti-fascist allies - PAP) "uncommonly politically correct and well-weighed", and assured it contained no attempts at revising history nor controversial statements regarding Poland. According to Kwasniewski his absence from Moscow would also have been badly received by the attending presidents of the U.S. and France.

Warsaw, May 9: Polish politicians Monday reacted critically to Russian president Vladimir Putin's speech at the Moscow celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War Two. In his speech Putin failed to list Poland among the anti-fascist allies and underscored the historical importance of reconcilement between Russia and Germany. He also made no reference to post-war divisions in Europe. "We shall always remember the help received from our allies, the U.S., Britain and France, as well as other countries in the anti-Nazi coalition", Putin said. He also voiced thanks to "German and Italian antifascists" and called Russia's reconcilement with Germany "one of post-war Europe's biggest successes". Jozef Oleksy, leader of the ruling Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), said he was "unpleasantly surprised" at Putin's failure to thank the Poles for their war effort. I fail to see why president Putin thanked German and Italian antifascists but not the Poles, who shed blood arm in arm with the Soviet Army, Oleksy told PAP. Commenting Putin's praise of Russian-German reconcilement, Oleksy called it "an important herald of the future relations between the EU and Russia", and proof that Russia "wanted to be a continental power with a bilateral accord with the EU". Law and Justice (PiS) leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski called the speech "another crass insult on Putin's part" and "confirmation of my suspicions that Poland will be completely ignored" in Moscow. Referring to controversies around Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski's presence at the ceremonies, Kaczynski said the president's trip to Moscow had been "pointless". There was no reason for him to have to listen to this insulting speech, Kaczynski opined. Citizens Platform (PO) leader Donald Tusk called Putin's speech "moderate but unpleasant for Poles". We can't pretend we didn't notice the silence about Poland, Tusk said. If mention is made of the U.S., Britain, France and even German and Italian antifascists but none of the nation which put in the most effort and the biggest sacrifices in conquering Nazism, and was also attacked not only by Germany but by the Soviets, then this speech is not tantamount with the truth, the PO leader remarked. In Tusk's opinion also the setting of the Moscow festivities was unpleasant for the Poles. Something bad happened. I mean that president Kwasniewski attended a ceremony symbolised among others by the hammer and sickle and portraits of Stalin, both of which mean tragedy and catastrophe for the Poles, not victory, Tusk said. Referring to Putin's praise of Russian-German reconcilement, Tusk said the Russian president's words "had an ominous ring for Poland". These words are a very serious warning for Poland, Tusk said, stressing that it was time to change "the false approach to Polish-Russian relations". According to Democrats leader Wladyslaw Frasyniuk Poland should not concentrate on "single incidents" but strive for long-term improvement of relations with Russia. We must remember that compared to what the Russian press had prepared us for, the speech was rather moderate with no attacks against Poland. Putin heads one of the world's last empires and for quite some time yet will strive to build up a position of global influence. Changing Russia's approach to our country is a lengthy process, not all resentments will disappear right away, Frasyniuk warned. He added that Russia is angry with Poland over its aid to Ukraine's "orange revolution" and rallying EU support for Ukraine. Andrzej Lepper, leader of the Samoobrona Farmer Party, called Putin's non-reference to the Soviet Union's September 17, 1939 invasion of Poland, the Ribbentropp-Molotov pact and the Yalta agreements, "falsifying history". President Putin has manipulated historical facts. He should have said that September 17 and the Ribbentropp-Molotov pact were criminal acts, Lepper stated, adding that the Russian president's behaviour could have "an adverse effect on Polish-Russian relations". Former president and Solidarity founder Lech Walesa said Putin's ommission of Poland in his Moscow speech had come as "no surprise". Putin behaved like a typical Russian leader. Putin is a true native son of Russia, a great-Russian. He always was and always will be. We mustn't expect too much - he didn't notice his neighbours before and he won't now. That's the Russian mentality. Besides, there's also the insecurity after the fall of the Soviet Union, Walesa admonished. Former PM Tadeusz Mazowiecki called Putin's speech "shocking", he also condemned the Russian president's non-reference to post-war Europe. We must keep in mind that true reconcilement and rapport needs a squaring of accounts with the past, Mazowiecki said. Tomasz Nalecz from the Social-democracy for Poland (SdPl) called Putin's speech "a sad example of history's intrumentalisation for political ends" and "an element of a broader policy pursued by Russia's diplomacy". Of course I'm pleased about his tribute to general Okulicki and his tough speech in the Polish Embassy, but I must say he could've just as well delivered it in Poland. In other words, no one paid much attention to president Kwasniewski in Moscow, Kaczynski said.

Warsaw, May 9: A recent vote on parliament's dissolution showed that there exists a majority enabling a constructive non-confidence vote, PM Marek Belka said Monday commenting the Polish Peasant Party's (PSL's) suggestion of appointing an interim government. According to PSL the new government would be formed on a consensus by all political parties and groups. The project has been backed by the Samoobrona Farmer Party. In order to install a new government, interim or otherwise, one must first do away with the existing team, which is possible by means of a constructive non-confidence vote. On Saturday Marek Dyduch, general secretary of the ruling Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), mentioned the possibility of SLD launching a constructive non-confidence vote against the Belka cabinet.

New York, May 9: The end of the war and the ultimate fall of the Third Reich did not bring the desired, full independence to the Poles, Foreign Minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld said at a special session of the United Nations General Assembly marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. The minister said that while recalling the events of between September 1939 and May 1945, one should not only pay tribute to the victims but also ask whether that chapter was closed for everyone of us in May 1945. Rotfeld recalled that the 1945 Yalta Treaty was concluded above the Poles' heads between the three main powers of the anti-Hitlerite coalition and de facto made Poland subordinated to the Soviet Union. Other nations of Central and Eastern Europe suffered the same fate, he said. The minister stressed that he wanted to pay homage to all those soldiers of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and other nations which had fought in the Red Army for their heroism, dedication and sacrifice. Rotfeld recalled that also Poles contributed to the victory of 60 years ago. Polish soldiers fought at all fronts of the Second World War and the Polish military effort was the greatest after the USA, the USSR and Great Britain. Speaking of anniversaries celebrated in 2005 the Polish minister referred to the 25th anniversary of the birth of Solidarity and pointed out that this social movement initiated the process of peaceful and democratic transformation in many countries of this part of the world and put an end to then post-war division of Europe which started in 1939. Polish society will not lack will of agreement and reconciliation with all nations, especially with our biggest neighbours, the German and Russian peoples, the minister stressed. However the reconciliation should be based on truth. Remembrance of history is instructive and creative only when it expresses truth, without omissions, blackening some events and whitening others. Reconciliation is possible only through truth and common understanding of history, Rotfeld concluded.

Warsaw, May 9: Social Democracy of Poland leader Marek Borowski will start his election campaign in Cracow in mid-May with a slogan the "The Right Man on the Left. "The slogan will appear on billboards, posters and cards with "Marek Borowski's commitments". "The campain's aim is to make Borowski chief presidential candidate of the left wing and Lech Kaczynski's strongest rival," one of Borowski's aides said unofficially.

Warsaw, May 9: A wreath-laying ceremony took place at the Memorial Cemetery of Soviet Soldiers in Warsaw on the 60th anniversary of the end of World War Two on Monday. The ceremony assisted by a Polish Army company was attended by representatives of the Embassy of the Russian Federation, diplomats and a delegation of the defense ministry. Prayers for the fallen were said by Orthodox Church priests and military chaplains. Over 20 thousand of soldiers and officers of the 1st Belarussian Front fallen in the years 1944 and 1945 rest at the Soviet Memorial Cemetery in Warsaw.

Bielsko-Biala, May 9: Over 150 former Auschwitz Nazi death camp prisoners signed a founding act of the International Centre for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust, Andrzej Kacorzyk from the State Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum said. The first to sign the act were Wladyslaw Bartoszewski and French political activist Simone Veil who did so during the commemorations of the 60th anniversary of Auschwitz liberation on Janaury 27. Recently the act was signed by Nobel prize winner and former prisoner Elie Wiesel. In addition to Poles, the act was signed by prisoners from Belarus, Ukraine, Israel and the United States.The founding act contains an appeal to historians, academics, and teachers to preserve the memory of the victims of the Auschwitz death camp and the Holocaust, deepen the understanding of the mechanisms of hatred and contempt and to develop dialogue and cooperation. The Centre will be located at the State Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum in the vicinity of the former camp. The Centre will cooperate closely with the Jerusalem's Yad Vashem, Washington's Holocaust

Memorial, with leading world universities, international institutions and organisations. The Auschwitz death camp was set up in 1940, KL Aushwitz II-Birkenau two years later. Over million people were killed there, chiefly Polish and European Jews, Poles, the Gipsy people and Soviet prisoners.

Warsaw, May 9: Professors Franciszek Ziejka and Jacek Purchla have been granted the German Federal Crosses of Merit, the German Embassy in Warsaw told PAP on Monday. Professor Franciszek Ziejka, the rector of the Jagiellonian University, was honoured with the Great Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for his involvement in

reconciliation between the Polish and German nations. Director of the International Culture Centre in Cracow Professor Jacek Purchla received the Cross of Merit with the Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany for outstanding contribution to understanding between the Polish and German nations. Professor Ziejka received the distinction on Sunday and Professor Purchla will receive it on Wednesday.

Warsaw, May 9: Representatives of families of Poles murdered in Katyn staged Monday a protest in front of the Russian Embassy here against the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the WW2 end in Moscow. They demanded Russia should recognize the Katyn

crime as genocide. Sixty five years ago the NKVD murdered some 22 thousand Polish army officers, police officers, doctors, professors and priests who had been taken prisoners after the Soviet invasion of Poland. The Russian military prosecutor's office conducted investigation into the Katyn forest massacre for 14 years but it was dropped in September 2004.

Warsaw, May 10: Russia, China and Germany are the countries which Poland should be most afraid of, according to a PBS survey commissioned by Gazeta Wyborcza. People under 40 years of age fear Russia more, older people with elementary education fear Germany. Germany was most often mentioned as the country Poland should cooperate with, and was followed by the U.S. and Great Britian. Ukraine came fourth and was mostly the choice of educated people.

Katowice, May 9: Three new investors, Germany's Kirchhoff, Italy's Ferroli and Canada's Process-Electronic, will build their factories in the Katowice Special Economic Zone. They will invest a total of 170 million zlotys and create 460 new jobs. Ferrol Poland will build a heater and central heating boiler factory in Sosnowiec for 120 million zlotys and give employment to at least 210 people. Production will start in 2007. By mid-2007 Kirchhoff Polska Assembly is planning to build a factory of car body elements for 37 million zlotys. It will give jobs to 200 people. A daughter-company of Canadian Process-Electronic will build a plant for designing and assembly of industrial processes control systems in Sosnowiec. The plant will cost 8.6 million zlotys to build and will employ 50 people. In the entire 2005 the Katowice zone expects to attract over ten new investments of the total value of 1 billion zlotys and several thousand new jobs. Established in 1996, the Katowice Special Economic Zone, the biggest such zone in Poland, attracted over 7 billion zlotys in investments.

Warsaw, May 9: A group of representatives of Iranian companies met with Polish businessmen in Warsaw on Monday to exchange information of their trade offers and establish new contacts. Polish-Iranian 2004 turnover exceeded the value of 65 million USD.

During the first two months of 2005 Polish exports to Iran jumped to 35 million USD, Andrzej Swiezaczynski of the Economy Ministry said during the meeting. Slawomir Okon of the Polish Chamber of Commerce stressing that Iran for years has been among Poland's important economic partners, recalled that first economic ties go back to the 17th century. Representatives of the Polish Economy Ministry stressed the improvement of economic conditions in Iran over the past several years and the opening of Iran on other countries. Iranian businessmen arrived in Poland on an economic mission organized by the Qazvin Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Mines.

Warsaw, May 9: April's industrial production fell 4.8 percent year-on-year, compared to a 3.7 percent fall in March, according to a survey carried out by PAP in April. According to economist estimates, April's retail sales fell 12.6 percent year-on-year, against a 0.3 percent fall in March. The Central Statistical Office will release industrial production data on May 20 and retail sales data later in May. In a May survey, economists projected Poland's economic growth at 3.35 percent of the GDP in the 1st quarter of 2005, 3.8 percent in the 2nd quarter, 4.7 percent in the 3rd quarter, and 5.3 percent in the 4th quarter.

Gdansk, May 9: Fourteen vessels from seven NATO countries started a wide scale mine sweeping exercise in the Baltic sea on Monday. Ships from Estonia, France, Germany, Great Britain, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland taking part in the exercise due to end on Sunday.

Torun, May 9: Professor Maria Szyszkowska has been officially registered as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize, Senator Krystyna Sienkiewicz informed PAP Monday. Szyszkowska's

candidature was submitted by Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey at the motion of organisations fighting homophobia. "Professor Szyszkowska's candidature was proposed by international organisations affiliating homosexuals, people fighting homophobia and pacifists, Sienkiewcz said. A draft law on registering domestic homosexual partnerships was created under the auspices of Szyszkowska, later passed by the Senate. At present the bill is waiting to be examined by the Sejm.

Konin, May 9: Aluminium Konin-Impexmetal will allocate 170 million zlotys to modernise its rolled steel section in a move to improve product quality and sales, the company's management board head Marek Kacprowicz said. Aluminium Konin-Impexmetal made 30 million zlotys in net profits in 2004, unchanged from 2003 when the profits rose over 7 times

from 2002. In 2004 rolled product output was over 71 thousand tons, up close to 4 tons from 2003. The plant produced 54 thousand tons of aluminium, up 1.3 thousand tons from 2003. The company exported 60 percent of its production, chiefly to EU countries.

Brussels, May 9: The European Investment Bank will continue to focus on backing Poland's infrastructure and transport which are crucial for attracting foreign investments, EBI deputy president Ivan Pilip said. "Infrastructure and transport will remain the bank's priority in Poland (...) Appropriate infrastructure is necessary to bring about growth of direct foreign investments. Investors perceive weak transport infrastructure as an obstacle in carrying out their investment plans," EBI deputy president said. EBI has been backing many investment projects in Poland and other countries of the region with cheap loans since early 1990s.

President backs plans to name Szmajdzinski deputy prime minister

Warsaw, May 10: President Aleksander Kwasniewski said he would approve plans to name Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski deputy prime minister if he receives such a motion from the prime minister. Speaking in a radio interview, the president added he had respect for and confidence in Szmajdzinski as he had passed a test of practice as the defence minister. On Saturday Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) secretary general Marek Dyduch said the SLD was mulling over a constructive non-confidence vote in the government. Among conditions for the vote to take place was promotion of Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski to the post of deputy prime minister, appointment of an SLD member to the post of environment minister, and no dismissals of SLD members on the posts of ministers, deputy ministers and provincial governors. Kwasniewski said that changes on the posts of provincial governors and deputy ministers would be pointless now given the forthcoming general elections.

Warsaw, May 10: The cooling down of Polish-Russian relations is not an effect of controversies over ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the end of WW2 but a result of Poland's involvement in the recent developments in Ukraine, President Aleksander Kwasniewski told Polish Radio Three on Tuesday. The president explained that the political crisis in Ukraine was a situation in which threatened were Russia's "serious, strategic interests." He added that during his Moscow talks with leaders of some of the independent Asian republics he has heard that "there is talk in the lobbies that Poland is implementing a strategy - an American-European strategy, a strategy with which Russia cannot agree." According to the president once Poland has "efficiently joined a certain strategic game with a different than Russia opinion, one has to expect consequences, cooling down of relations. "Kwasniewski stressed that everything possible has to be done so that the cooling down of relations does not turn into a permanent state. "Russia's best possible relations with the European Union and with NATO, no preferment for Poland nor indignities" should be a norm in relations with Russia, said Kwasniewski adding that Ukraine should "implement its European, Euroatlantic, NATO choice on which it has decided." "Such scenario is the best from the Ukrainian, European and Polish ‘perspective," the president assessed.

Warsaw, May 10: A meeting between the PM Marek Belka and the leadership of the Democratic Left Alliance SLD on Tuesday centred on the SLD's legislative demands, according to Senate Speaker Longin Pastusiak. SLD wants Defense Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski to be appointed deputy PM. It also wants an SLD environment minister (SLD points out to Czeslaw Sleziak) and SLD ministers, deputy ministers and provincial governors to remain at their posts. SLD also wants the parliament to conclude work on draft laws on the minimum wage, one-time allowance for the worst-off, old-age and disabled, the scholarship programme and the law on higher education. Earlier in the day SLD leader Jozef Oleksy said the grouping wants to discuss further cooperation with the government. We try to make the last months of cooperation between the government and its political basis smooth and partner-like, SLD leader said. Oleksy added that even if Belka does not agree on Szmajdzinski as deputy PM "there will be no war about it."

Cracow, May 10: The events in Moscow signify "a battle for the shape of European historical remembrance", Andrzej Przewoznik, secretary of Poland's Council for the Protection of Monuments to Struggle and Martyrdom, said Tuesday in Cracow meeting veterans of Poland's wartime Home Army. Przewoznik and Ryszard Kaczorowski, Poland's last president-in-exile, met war veterans to celebrate Poland's contribution to the Allied victory in World War Two. Commenting Russian president Vladimir Putin's speech at the recent armistice celebrations in Moscow, during which he omitted to mention Poland among the wartime Allies, Przewoznik said the celebrations had "upset the vision of European history". This was a showcase example of how historical fact can be used for current political ends and Putin's words had not come as a surprise. What happened in Moscow was a battle for the shape of Europe's historical remembrance. Europe is starting a serious debate on its (...) experiences under two totalitarian systems - Soviet and German. This is a chance to broaden historical memory in Europe, he noted.

Cracow, May 10: Andrzej Przewoznik, Secretary General of the Council for the Protection of the Sites of Struggle and Martyrdom, believes it is necessary to set up a Katyn Institute and a Museum to gather documents on the martyrdom of Poles in the East. Families of the victims of the Katyn crime and Katyn organisations want such museum to be founded, he said Tuesday. Przewo z nik argued that such centre must be created if one thinks seriously about passing true knowledge about the crime to the young generations and prepare a generation free from anti-Russian phobia. He told PAP that the idea was already discussed with Warsaw authorities, and added that when a partner to the project is found and a letter of intent is signed this year there is a chance to start to implement the idea. Sixty years ago, in April 1940, the NKVD following the order of Soviet authorities, murdered in Katyn and other places on the Soviet territory about 22,000 Polish officers, policemen, professors, doctors and clergymen taken prisoner after the invasion of the USSR on Poland on September 17, 1939. Andrzej Przewoznik will go to Kiev this Friday to discuss questions related to the Polish pre-WW2 cemetery in Lvov with representatives of the Chancellery of President Victor Yushchenko. "I think that the Friday visit will start a series of talks bringing the final solution to the question of the cemetery, Andrzej Przewoznik told PAP on Tuesday. The Polish cemetery in Lvov with graves of Polish soldiers fallen in the Polish-Ukrainian war in the years 1918-1919 was to be opened a few times so far, but Lvov local councilors refused to give consent. Pulawy plant wants to raise 350 m zloty in public offering.

Paris, May 10: The 6th summit of the Weimar Triangle states, namely Poland, France and Germany, will be held in Nancy, France, on May 19, the office of the French president reported Tuesday. The summit will be a successive opportunity for Presidents of Poland and France Aleksander Kwasniewski and Jacques Chirac as well as German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to demonstrate their support for the EU Constitutional Treaty 10 days before a referendum in France.

Verdict on Accession Treaty constitutionality Wednesday

Warsaw, May 10: The Constitutional Tribunal will rule whether the Accession Treaty does not infringe the Polish constitution on Wednesday. The treaty has been sent to the tribunal by three groups of right-wing MPs who believe it introduced the superiority of the EU law over the Polish constitution and Polish laws and limited the state's sovereignty. The MPs recalled that under the article 8 of the Polish constitution the constitution is the highest law in the state.

Prosecutor General and Justice Minister Andrzej Kalwas as well as Jolanta Szymanek-Deresz from the Presidential Chancellery pointed out that the charges are groundless. Szymanek-Deresz said President Aleksander Kwasniewski had never have any doubts as to the constitutionality of the treaty.

Warsaw, May 10: The Polish government on Tuesday passed a bill on the ratification of an agreement on establishing a NATO Joint Force Training Centre in Poland sealed in April between Poland and the headquarters of NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation

(HQ SACT). The Centre will help train NATO officers, introduce state-of-the-art military technology and work on improving cooperation between NATO units.The NATO Joint Force Training Centre will be co-financed by the Organisation of the North Atlantic Treaty.

Warsaw, May 10: The government on Tuesday approved a report presented by Culture Minister Waldemar Dabrowski on the implementation of the National Culture Development Strategy for 2004-2013. The ministry adopted the strategy at the start of this year. On Tuesday the minister underlined the new approach to spending on culture and departure from ad-hoc measures, often politically-motivated, and stressed they would be replaced by long-term solutions. As part of the strategy the ministry has granted numerous cultural projects 25 percent of funds required for gaining funds from EU structural means.

Szmajdzinski rejects accusations

Warsaw, May 10: Defence minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski said here Tuesday that accusations against him made in the course of depositions before the Sejm committee investigating the so-called PKN Orlen affair were slanders, lies and libel. Witness Danuta G. told the committee that Szmajdzinski had had ties to the fuel mafia. She listed names of over a dozen publicly known figures, including Szmajdzinski, presidential adviser Stanislaw Ciosek, court judges and public prosecutors, who had allegedly co-operated with the fuel mafia. Danuta G. claimed that Szmajdzinski had protected the mafia in return for its financial help during the last parliamentary elections. "Her testimony is lies, slander and libel," the minister told PAP Tuesday. "The money for financing my party's election campaign was raised in accordance with respective laws." "I will certainly consider taking legal action against (..) this shameful method of building one's position by people who are weak, base and who think they can accuse others with impunity," the minister said.

Majority of Poles positive on EU membership

Warsaw, May 10: Fifty eight per cent of Poles expressed their approval for EU membership, 7 per cent more than in May 2004, when Poland joined the EU, according to a poll by OBOP polling centre. Ten per cent of the respondents spoke negatively about the membership. According to 79 per cent of Poles the accession had no impact on changes in their lives, 8 per cent said they have benefited from EU accession.

City authorities say no to anti-war demonstration

Warsaw, May 10: The Warsaw authorities have refused to grant a permission to stage an anti-war demonstration in Warsaw planned for May 16, the day of the start of the 3rd Council of Europe Summit, representatives of the "Stop War Initiative", organizers said on Tuesday. At a press conference members of the "Initiative" stressed that the demonstration was not directly aimed against the summit but against "the war policy" represented by politicians who have been invited to the summit.

Warsaw, May 10: Ukraine's Orange Revolution and the ongoing Polish-German Year will be the main topic of this year's 12th Polish European Meeting on Sunday, the eve of the 3rd Council of Europe summit in Warsaw. Expected at the meeting are the presidents of Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland, CE secretary general Terry Davis and youth grouped in more than a hundred international organisations, including large delegations from Germany and Ukraine. A European prize will be awarded to Father Adam Boniecki, editor of the Tygodnik Powszechny catholic weekly. The celebrations will include a Schumann Parade led by Terry

Davis, whose participants will unfold an "orange unity ribbon" in token of the recent political changes in Ukraine and good-neighbourly relations between Ukraine, Germany and Poland. Also foreseen is a hip-hop marathon in front of Warsaw's Palace of Culture and Science.

Warsaw, May 10: According to the Government Centre for Strategic Studies (RCSS), the GDP growth in the first quarter of 2005 will reach 3.0 percent, down from 6.9 percent in the first quarter of 2004 and 3.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2004. The Finance Ministry said a few days ago that the GDP growth in the first quarter of 2005 will reach 2.5 percent. According to RCSS the GDP growth will be faster in the coming quarters.

Warsaw, May 10: Ukraine is an attractive investment site but its business climate is unfriendly for Polish firms, Polish commercial attache in Kiev Anna Skowronska-Luczynska said Tuesday at an EXPO-East 2005 conference in Warsaw. Skowronska-Luczynska said that until the end of 2004 Polish companies had invested 192 million USD in Ukraine. In her opinion the biggest problem for Polish investors is the country's unstable political situation. The present Ukrainian government has presented no economic programme, its activity is mainly focused on welfare matters like raising minimum wages and pensions. Not one voice there has said that catching up means hard work, she remarked. In March Ukraine amended its budget laws to the disadvantage of Polish investors.

Warsaw, May 10: Polish firms step up their investments in Russia despite bureaucratic barriers and legal hurdles, a debate held Tuesday at the Expo-Wschod 2005 conference at Warsaw Economic School SGH showed. Among the participants were officials of the Polish embassy in Moscow and Kiev, BGZ bank, KUKE corporation of export credits and investors. Polish investments in Russia are worth a total of 73 m USD, compared with 82 bn USD of overall foreign investments there. Polish direct investments are worth some 60 m USD, vs. 36 bn USD of foreign direct investments overall. Polish firms invested in Russia chiefly in the years 2003 and 2004, mostly in industry, wholesale and retail trade and catering. Polish investments in Russia are scattered, with 400 companies with Polish capital registered there according to incomplete data.

Warsaw, Riga, May 10: The Polish government fully supports a power bridge linking Poland and Lithuania that will have a major impact on the energy security of the Baltic states and make them independent of energy supplies from outside the EU, reads a statement from the ministry of economy and labour published Tuesday. The bridge will come into effect in 2009, the statement suggests. It will enhance Poland's role as a transit country and build up Polish-Lithuanian cooperation. "Being aware of the fact that Lithuania is under the obligation to switch off the Ignalin nuclear power station by 2009, both sides have been making every effort in order to implement the power bridge project by that date," the statement also reads. It says that another step leading to the implementation of the project are the talks between government officials, power grid operators and the EU authorities last March. The project got support from the EU Commissioner in charge of energy Andris Piebalgs on Tuesday. Speaking to the Latvian parliament's EU committee, Piebalgs stressed that the "power bridge was very necessary, so the EU supports the project."Spokesman for Latvian power grid Latvenergo Andris Siksnis told the BNS agency that the Latvian system was now linked to those of Estonia, Lithuania and Russia. The Lithuanian-Polish bridge would expand power supply sources in Latvia.

Malopolska to upgrade local roads thanks to EU funds

Cracow, May 10: Poland's south-eastern province of Malopolska plans to spend 146 million zlotys (45.4 million USD) on road works this year. Most of the funds will come from the European Union. The province authorities say that EU assistance will allow to start the implementation of a long-term wide-scale road construction programme. One of the biggest road projects starting in the province this year is the modernization of a 20-kilometre stretch of a provincial road. The project cost reaches over 41 million zlotys.

Brussels, May 10: Poland wants restrictions in imports of Chinese textiles to the EU. In April the EC launched informal inquiries into the drastic rise in textile imports from China. Imports of some Chinese textile products to Poland rose 300-400 percent during the 1st quarter of this year. Poland's motion for curbing imports from China is backed by France, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Italy.

Szczecin, May 10: Chinese businessmen from Hunan province are interested in investing in the Slupsk special economic zone. On Tuesday a nine-strong delegation led by province governor Mr. Zhou Bohua met with the authorities of Koszalin and Chinese investors already manufacturing in the zone. Spokesman for Koszalin city president Grzegorz Slizewski said the guests had visited the Chinese bike plant. City President Miroslaw Mikietynski hoped that the meeting on such a high level would bring about new contracts with Chinese investors.

The first in Europe Chinese Production Centre was set up in Koszalin, where Chinese investors had bought more than 5 hectares of land and have negotiated the purchase of successive 5 hectares. Some four to five Chinese firms are to produce ecologically-friendly electronics and bicycles.

Cracow, May 10: This year will set another record in the number of visitors to Cracow, the city authorities predict. They expect a rise of between dozen-odd and several dozen percent in the tourist traffic compared with 2004. "The past year was very good in the tourist domain, because we had a 20 percent rise in the number of visitors to the city," Grazyna Leja, Cracow's chief tourist official said Tuesday. "We expect the trend to continue this year," she added. Some 6.4 million Polish and foreign tourists came to Cracow in 2004.

President to attend Weimar Triangle summit in Nancy

Warsaw, May 11: President Aleksander Kwasniewski will attend the Weimer Triangle summit meeting in Nancy, France, on May 19, the Presidential Chancellery reported on Wednesday. The office of the French president reported Tuesday that the summit will be also attended by Presidents of France Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

Solana receives Man of Year award

Warsaw, May 11: EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana, on Wednesday congratulated Poland and Poles successes of the 1st year of membership of the European Union. Solana, who met with President Aleksander Kwasniewski, Prime Minister Marek Belka and Foreign Minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld, said Poles should be proud of great success achieved in integration with the European Union. Solana has come to Warsaw directly from the Moscow EU-Russia summit. He said the summit brought positive results. "We managed to push forward the EU-Russian relations," he said. Questions concerning Russia in the context of Moscow celebrations of the 60th anniversary of victory in the second world war dominated the press conference given by Solana and minister Adam Rotfeld after their talks. Solana declined to give his opinion on the polemics concerning Polish and Russian history evaluations. On the same topic Rotfeld said that President Vladimir Putin's failure to mention the Polish contribution in the victory over Nazi Germany was significant and telling. But he also said that the reaction in Poland was exaggerated and overblown. He denied that the Polish-Russian relations reached the bottom. In the human, cultural and economic dimensions the relations were good, Rotfeld declared.

- Javier Solana received the man of the Year 2004 award for "outstretching the hand to Ukraine" here Wednesday from the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper. In his address Solana said he treated the award as a token of appreciation for the common success in creating a united and peaceful Europe. "We sometimes fail to appreciate the importance" of living in a united, free and peaceful Europe, he said. "A short look back in history will persuade us that this state of affairs is revolutionary," Solana stressed. "Poland perhaps understands the historic importance of this new European order better than other countries." President Aleksander Kwasniewski participating in the event, said that he and Solana had met in times of great importance for Poland and Europe. This was true of the decisions to enlarge NATO and the enlarge the EU. "The third time was in Kiev (..) We fought for values there. Even for a single moment we did not take one of the sides (in the presidential race)," Kwasniewski stressed.. Kwasniewski voiced his belief that Solana will build very good EU-Russia relations. Poland was vitally interested in the best possible EU-Russia relations, he added.

- The European Union's foreign policy, chiefly in the context of the Moscow EU-Russia summit which ended Tuesday were the main topics discussed at the meeting of Prime Minister Marek Belka with Javier Solana. Solana also spoke of the preparations for the next summit scheduled for September this year. Referring to the EU's eastern policy, Belka presented the state of the current Polish-Russian relations, including above all co-operation in the power sector. In Belka's opinion this is also one of major areas of the EU's dialogue with Russia. Javier Solana also met with Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz. The discussion focused on the Moscow V-Day 60th anniversary celebrations. Solana presented the course of his talks with representatives of Russian authorities on the current situation in the Middle East and prospects of introducing democratic standards in Chechnya. He also spoke of the problem of visa policy and the principles of readmission in the EU-Russia relations. Solana and Cimoszewicz discussed the prospects of the referendum on the European constitution in France.

Warsaw, May 11: Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz has failed to decide whether he will run for the presidency, as he put it after a meeting with leader of the Democratic Left Alliance SLD Jozef Oleksy in Warsaw on Wednesday. Cimoszewicz told PAP that during the meeting the SLD head tried to persuade him to run. "This is not a secret," he added. But he did not want to give any date of his possible decision. "I will invite you for a meeting and, of course, I will tell you then if I had something political in nature to say," he said. Oleksy did not want to comment on the meeting. He confirmed that the question of Cimoszewicz running for the presidency was discussed.

Tribunal: EU Accession Treaty not unconstitutional

Warsaw, May 11: The EU Accession Treaty does not infringe on the Polish constitution, the Polish Constitutional Tribunal ruled Wednesday. In its verdict the Tribunal stated that the Accession Treaty was "conformant" with the preamble to the Polish Constitution and that its signatories were all sovereign countries. It further stressed that Poland's constitution remained the country's supreme legal act also after EU accession and that the Polish government's cession of some of its competencies to EU institutions did not violate Poland's sovereignty. The verdict came in response to May 4 charges against the Accession Treaty by rightwing MPs Marek Kotlinowski (League of Polish Families), Jan Lopuszanski (Polish Agreement) and Antoni Macierewicz (Catholic-National Movement).

Warsaw, May 11: Warsaw will honour the 3rd summit of the Council of Europe with culture events titled Warsaw European Night. As part of the event some galleries and museums will be open until midnight this Saturday. Among them the Centre of the Contemporary Art in the Ujazdowski Castle and Green Gallery will offer entrance free-of-charge. The exhibition "50 years of the Council of Europe art" will open at Kazimierzowski Palace. Open will be the Palace of Culture and Science, the Museum of Warsaw Uprising and the Museum of Caricature. Selected movie theatres will show the best European films shot after 2000 while people walking in the streets on Saturday night will watch performances by street theatres.

Foreign minister to represent Russia at Council of Europe summit

Warsaw, May 11: Russia will be represented at the 3rd Summit of the Council of Europe, to be held in Warsaw on May 16 and 17, by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Lavrov's deputy Vladimir Chyzhov said Wednesday.Russia does not expect any sensational developments during the summit, the third one in the 56-year long history of the organization, Chyzhov said. The summit, to be attended by 21 presidents and 18 PMs, is planned to adopt a political declaration, a plan of work and a declaration on cooperation between the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

Warsaw, May 11: The Citizens Platform (PO) and Law and Justice (PiS) would get 22 percent of votes each if parliamentary elections were held in early May, according to a Rzeczpospolita poll published Wednesday. According to the daily, PiS could be moroptimistic even though it received the same number of votes as PO because it gained 5 percentage points from April whereas PO lost 2 percentage points. Samoobrona got nearly 15 percent of votes but 2 percentage points less than a month ago. Next came the League of Polish Families (LPR) that could count on 11 percent of votes, down by 1 percentage point. The Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) received 7 percent of votes and the Polish Peasant Party (PSL) 6 percent. The Democratic Party - democrats.pl with 4 percent of votes would not win seats in the Sejm as it fell short of the five percent of the vote required for parliamentary representation. In such situation PO and PiS would have quite a stable majority in the Sejm with 246 seats. Samoobrona would have 81 seats, LPR - 61, and SLD and PSL - 35 each.

Poland will get part of a 230-million USD US Iraq aid

Warsaw, May 11: Poland will get part of a 230- million-USD aid instalment for the United States' Iraq and Afghanistan allies approved by the U.S. Senate earlier today, the Polish defence ministry announced Wednesday. Ministry spokesman Piotr Pertek told PAP that the actual amount allotted Poland was as yet unknown. According to the Raport monthly Poland could get between 30 and 40 million USD, or, in an "optimistic" scenario - even 50-70 million. We are waiting for this information, Pertek told PAP. Initially aid for U.S. allies was planned at 400 million USD, of which Poland was to receive 100 million, however last March the U.S. House of Representatives struck the project on grounds that it was not a top priority expense.

Lithuania, Ukraine, Poland to form joint battalion in Kosovo

Kiev, May 11: Lithuania and Ukraine signed an agreement in Kiev on Wedensday under which a joint battalion with Poland will be formed to participate in a NATO peace mission in Kosovo. Relevant documents were signed by Lithuanian Defence Minister Gediminas Kirkilas and his Ukrianian counterpart Anatoliy Hrycenko. The documents now await the signature of Poland's defence minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski and ratification by the parliaments of the three countries. The joint battalion will group some 140 Lithuanian troops and 200 to 300 Polish and Ukrainian troops, each. It will be stationed in the eastern part of Kosovo. At present there are 300 Polish, 288 Ukrainian nad 30 Lithuanian troops in KFOR international peace forces in Kosovo.

Katowice, May 11: Poland's parliament could still manage to pass a constructive non-confidence vote against the Marek Belka government and appoint a new cabinet, Samoobrona leader Andrzej Lepper said Wednesday in Katowice, south Poland. Lepper particularly criticised Belka's decision to join the opposing Demokraci.pl party, which in his opinion "compromised Poland in the eyes of the world". Lepper said that if appointed, a new government should halt all current privatisation projects, introduce a welfare minimum and a minimum wage, change the legal status of the National Bank of Poland (NBP) and strive to improve the situation in the health service.

General Jaruzelski visits father's grave in Siberia

Moscow, May 11: General Wojciech Jaruzelski on his journey to Biysk, Altai territory in Siberia on Wednesday visited his father's grave and the monument to Poles oppressed by the Soviet regime. Together with Poland's ex-president tribute to the victims of Soviet repression was paid by the governor of the Altai territory Mikhail Yevdokimov and leader of the Altai Republic Mikhail Lapshin. Jaruzelski has been staying in Biysk since Tuesday and visited a factory in which he had worked till 1942, the house in which the Jaruzelski family used to liveand met with members of the "White Eagle" community. Jaruzelski came to Russia at the invitation of President Vladimir Putin to attend the ceremonies marking the 60the anniversary of the V-Day. During WW2 the Jaruzelski family was deported from Lithuania to Siberia. Wojciech's father Stanislaw was arrested and sent to a camp. He died in 1942 after being released from the camp. The same year Wojciech Jaruzelski joined the Polish Army.

Poland will get part of a 230-million USD US Iraq aid

Warsaw, May 11: The finance ministry may propose the next year budget with a deficit of some 30 billion zlotys (9.4 bn USD), Finance Minister Miroslaw Gronicki told Radio PiN on Wednesday. On Tuesday the ministry presented budget indicators on the basis of which it plans to draft the 2006 budget including a 4 percent GDP growth and 1.5 percent annual average inflation. "We predict an improvement in economic conditions in the EU and a rebound of home demand. These two factors should let us keep a 4 pct pace of growth," Gronicki said. "A combination of rather restrictive monetary and fiscal policies with high unemployment will not give us a big room for manoeuvre," he added. This year's budget deficit will stand at 3.6 percent of GDP, down from 4.6 percent in 2004, the Finance Ministry wrote in a forecast published Wednesday. In 2005 the public debt will reach 53 percent of GDP, up from 50.3 percent in 2004. This year the debt-GDP relation according to the Polish methodology will grow to 53 percent, mainly due to growing costs of the pension system reform, the ministry said. In accordance with the ESA95 methodology the public debt will stand at 45.1 percent of GDP, up from 43.6 percent in 2004, the ministry said. The GDP growth in 2005 will stand at 4.0-4.5 percent, Finance Minister Miroslaw Gronicki told reporters on Wednesday. Gronicki expects that the budget deficit will fall to 30 bn zlotys next year. We will be trying to reduce the budget deficit to around 3 percent of GDP, Gronicki said. He added it could be 3.0-3.2 percent of GDP. The minister said he expected that both in 2005 and 2006 investments would go up by over 10 percent.

Warsaw, May 11: The average monthly pre-tax pay was 2,415.45 zlotys (747.8 USD) in the first quarter of 2005, the Central Statistical Office (GUS) said on Wednesday. In March 2005 the average pay was 2,480.50 zlotys. In the 4th quarter of 2004 the average pay was 2,405.46 zlotys, in the 3rd quarter of 2004 2,269.93 zlotys.

RPP member on interest rates and inflation target

Warsaw, May 12: The current interest rate levels guarantee that inflation will stand at the level close to the target of 2.5 percent, member of the Monetary Policy Council (RPP) Dariusz Filar told a TVN 24 programme. "One should look at our current decisions and take into account that we adopted a neutral bias. This indicates that both interest rate cuts and rises are equally possible," Filar said. The next inflation projection will be presented in late May. The latest inflation projection published by the National Bank of Poland (NBP) in February said that at the end of 2005 inflation would fall to 2.5 percent and would stabilise around this level in 2007. According to Filar, the macroeconomic budgetary assumptions for 2006 concerning a GDP growth are cautious but more optimistic as far as inflation is concerned. The Finance Ministry said that in 2006 GDP will grow by at least 4 percent and that inflation will stand at around 1.5 percent.

New permits in the Lodz special economic zone

Lodz, May 11: The Lodz provincial governor Stefan Krajewski handed the permits to DSWI, Hapam, E.G.O., Kampmann and HT Lancet here Wednesday. DSWI is a wire maker, its products are used in white goods manufacture. The Lodz facility will supply materials to Bosch-Siemens in Lodz. E.G.O. will make control and distribution equipment for white goods. Hapam wants to invest almost 10 million zlotys and hire 60 people in the Lodz special zone to produce electrical equipment. Kampmann and HT Lancet will invest 110 million zlotys in total. The former company makes medical and lab equipment, the latter makes heating and ventilation gear. The Lodz special economic zone was established in 1997 and covers the area of 337 hectares. Investment outlays borne by companies located in the zone have topped 3 billion zlotys and over 7,000 new jobs were set up.

Warsaw, May 11: Three Polish banks, Bank Millennium, NordLB and WestLB, notified the General Banking Supervision Inspector about an intention to start operations in the European Union countries, the Banking Supervision Commission said on Wednesday. Millennium Bank's Agnieszka Zygo said that the bank, together with its Portuguese partner, will launch a two-month pilot programme in France in order to estimate the potential of the Polish community on the French market. NORD/LB Bank Polska Norddeutsche Landesbank notified the Polish banking supervisions about its intention to start operations in Germany. WestLB Bank Polska is planning to start operations in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

LOT airlines order four planes in Brasil

Warsaw, May 11: Brasilian plane maker Embraer will sell four Embraer 175 jets to LOT Polish airlines, the airline said Wednesday. Deliveries will start in the second quarter of next year. LOT will be the first air carrier to introduce the plane to Europe. LOT now has 10 Embraer 170 planes and 14 smaller models, Embraer 145.

Warsaw, May 11: Police forces are getting ready for the 3rd Summit of the Council of Europe, to be held in Warsaw on May 16 and 17. Alterglobalists planning to stage an illegal demonstration are their biggest problem, the Zycie Warszawy daily said Wednesday. We do not expect any unrest but we are ready for any possibility, a spokesman for the Warsaw police said. On Monday, May 16, alterglobalists are planning to march from the Defilad Square in Warsaw downtown to the Zamkowy Square in the Old Town. Warsaw's authorities refused Tuesday to grant a permission to stage the march. Organizers of the demonstration said they would appeal the decision but stressed they were not giving up their plans. The daily recalled that despite earlier fears no incidents were reported in April 2004 during the debates of the European Economic Summit in Warsaw.

Warsaw, May 12: Russian president Vladimir Putin was not scheduled to attend the Warsaw Council of Europe summit on May 16 to 17, president Aleksander Kwasniewski said Thursday. "Let us not seek problems in everything," the president told the journalists when asked whether Putin's absence at the Warsaw summit could be regarded as a sign of a cooling in Polish-Russian relations. "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" wrote Thursday that it was for the first time that Putin refused to take part in a summit of an organisation of which Russia was a member. Russian foreign ministry said Wednesday that Russia would be represented by foreign minister Sergey Lavrov at the Warsaw summit. The president noted that the cooling in Polish-Russian relations was felt "notably after the end of a political crisis in Ukraine (the Orange Revolution)." He added that "a difference of opinions on Ukraine will persist between Poland and Russia for a long time."

Warsaw, May 12: President Aleksander Kwasniewski laid Thursday flowers at the monument to Marshal Jozef Pilsudski to mark the 70th anniversary of his death. Earlier in the day a mass was said in the John the Baptist cathedral to pay homage to Pilsudski and his soldiers. Father Eustachy Rakoczy said in his homily that it is difficult to find another such great statesman in the history of Poland. Jozef Pilsudski died on May 12, 1935. He was a Polish marshal, statesman and the one of the founders of the Second Republic of Poland.

The 3rd Summit of the Council of Europe in Warsaw

Warsaw, May 12: The 3rd Summit of the Council of Europe will be held in Warsaw on May 16 and 17. It ends the six-month Polish presidency of the Council of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The Council of Europe is the continent's oldest political organisation, founded in May 1949. Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, Sweden, Great Britain and Italy were the first member countries that signed the Statute of the Council of Europe. Now the organization groups together 46 countries, including 21 countries from Central and Eastern Europe. Poland joined the Council of Europe on November 26, 1991. The Council of Europe has a membership application from Belarus and has granted observer status to five countries, namely, the Holy See, the United States, Canada, Japan and Mexico. The Council of Europe is distinct from the 25-nation European Union, but no country has ever joined the Union without first belonging to the Council of Europe. The Council of Europe has its headquarters in Strasbourg, north-eastern France. The aim of the Council of Europe is to achieve a greater unity between its members. The Council was set up to defend human rights, parliamentary democracy and the rule of law, to develop continent-wide agreements to standardise member countries' social and legal practices, to promote awareness of a European identity based on shared values and cutting across different cultures. Since 1989, its main tasks have been to act as a political anchor and human rights watchdog of Europe's post-communist democracies, to assist the countries of central and eastern Europe in carrying out and consolidating political, legal and constitutional reform in parallel with economic reform, and to provide know-how in areas such as human rights, local democracy, education, culture and the environment. The 1st summit of the Council of Europe, held in Vienna in October 1993, set out new political aims. The Heads of State and Government cast the Council of Europe as the guardian of democratic security, founded on human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Democratic security is an essential complement to military security, and is a pre-requisite for the continent's stability and peace. During the 2nd summit of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg in October 1997, the Heads of State and Government adopted an action plan to strengthen the Council of Europe's work in four areas: democracy and human rights, social cohesion, the security of citizens and democratic values and cultural diversity. Today, the Organisation continues to grow while at the same time increasing its monitoring to ensure that all its members respect the obligations and commitments they entered into when they joined. The main component parts of the Council of Europe are the Committee of Ministers, composed of the 46 Foreign ministers or their Strasbourg-based deputies (ambassadors/permanent representatives), which is the Organisation's decision-making body, the Parliamentary Assembly, grouping 630 members (315 representatives and 315 substitutes) from the 46 national parliaments. The current President is Rene van der Linden (the Netherlands), the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, composed of a Chamber of Local Authorities and a Chamber of Regions. Its current President is Giovanni Di Stasi (Italy), and the 1800-strong secretariat headed since September 2004 by Secretary General Terry Davis (United Kingdom). The 2005 budget of the Council of Europe is 186 million euros.

Warsaw, May 12: The 3rd summit of the Council of Europe, to be held in Warsaw on Monday and Tuesday is a very important European event from the point of view of politics, protocol and prestige, believes Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz (SLD). According to Cimoszewicz, in view of recent changes in Europe (last year's eastward enlargement) the Council of Europe should be responsible for "preventing new divisions in Europe." The Sejm speaker and Poland's former foreign minister is also of the opinion that the summit should adopt a political declaration and a plan of action which would renew member-states' commitment to democracy, democratic standards, human rights and civic freedoms. "This is an important meeting. In a natural way the meeting in Warsaw may symbolise the future-oriented way of thinking and may make us more optimistic than the recent meeting in Moscow when political leaders got together to reflect on the past," he noticed. The summit is to be attended by 21 presidents of states and 18 Prime Ministers. France is likely to be represented by its Foreign Minister Michel Barnier as PM Jean-Paul Raffarin had been reported sick. Moscow said the Russian delegation will be led by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Great Britain's PM Tony Blair will be represented in Warsaw by his deputy John Prescott. From Italy deputy PM and Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini is expected. Participation in the summit has been confirmed by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko, Spanish PM Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. The Republic of San Marino will be represented by co-chiefs Captain Regent Cesare Gasperoni and Captain Regent Fausta Morganti. Poland will be represented by President Aleksander Kwasniewski and PM Marek Belka who will lead the debates on the alternative basis. The debates will be divided into three sessions: The first, titled "European Values - European Unity" will, according to Ambassador Jerzy Pomianowski, centre on all "what we associate with the notion of European identity and what is the basis for creating the platform of common values of rights and conventions." The second session "Challenges Facing the European Society" will be devoted to the development of information society, science, education, the prevention of conflicts and all forms of discrimination. The last session "New European Architecture" will centre on cooperation between European organisations: the Council of Europe, the European Union and the OSCS which should better define the areas of their operations so as not to double initiatives.

Warsaw, May 12: The authorities of Warsaw will not ban an anti-war demonstration of "Stop War Initiative," planned for May 16 or, the 1st day of the Council of Europe summit, PAP learnt in the city hall on Thursday. A new march route of the demonstration was approved by police and the Government Protection Office which rejected the previous route as it coincided with the route of vehicles transporting government officials and delegations.

Warsaw, May 12: Ukraine continues knocking on the doors of the European Union counting that the Community will at least "turn the key in the lock", Ukrainian Ambassador to Poland Ihor Kharchenko said during the conference "European Union and south-eastern Europe" organised by the Centre of International Relations in Warsaw on Thursday. The meeting was also attended by Foreign Minister Adam Rotfeld and representatives of Moldova and Belarus.

Rotfeld pointed out that at present Poland's foreign policy is part of the EU policy. He stressed that Poland has been a traditional advocate of active policy vis a vis eastern neighbours. "We are glad that our efforts towards creating an eastern dimension of the EU policy have been successful to a large extent, he added recalling Poland's share in solving last year's crisis in Ukraine. He dismissed suggestions that can be heard especially in Russia that the EU and Poland mediating in Ukraine interfered in that country's internal affairs. Rotfeld stressed that also Belarussian society "needs a sign that it was not forgotten by the EU."

Warsaw, May 12: The Belarussian government's policy towards the Union of Poles in Belarus (ZPB) stands in violation of basic European minority rights, Polish Senate speaker Longin Pastusiak said Thursday. Earlier today the Belarussian justice ministry declared a March election of ZPB authorities illegal and ordained a new election within two weeks. We will certainly take a stand on the matter. The Belarussian authorities' stance towards ZPB stands in violation of basic national minority rights and fundamental OSCE and CE standards, Pastusiak said, reminding that one of the Polish Senate's tasks was care over the interests of Polish communities abroad.

Warsaw, May 12: The Citizens Platform (PO) would win parliamentary elections if they were held in May as its support rose to 24 percent, according to a recent OBOP poll. The Law nad Justice (PiS), placed second with 20 percent of votes. Next came Samoobrona with 12 percent of votes, the League of Polish Families (LPR) - 9 pc, the Social Democracy for Poland (SdPl) - 5 pc, the Polish Peasant Party (PSL) - 8 pc. Democratic Party with a 4 per cent backing and the ruling Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) with 3 pc of the votes would fail to win seats in the Sejm as they fell short of the five percent of the vote required for parliamentary representation.

Warsaw, May 12: Head of the Social Democracy of Poland SdPl parliamentary floor group Jolanta Banach makes dependant a joint presidential race with the Democratic Left Alliance SLD on the latter's improvement. The key to the SLD improvement is for the party to halt mass scale theft of the state property and a stop to the single-party state management, SdPl head Marek Borowski said. Borowski, who runs for the presidency on SdPl ticket told PAP he

was willing to reach an agreement with a possible SLD candidate Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz on the withdrawal of the weaker candidate if Cimoszewicz turns to him prior to declaring his decision to enter the presidential race. Otherwise no agreement will be possible, he added.

Warsaw, May 12: Some Democratic Left Alliance SLD politicians are trying to convince party leader Jozef Oleksy to resign still before the party convention, scheduled for May 29. If he fails to resign we will try to dismiss him, they warn therefore renewing a discussion on Oleksy's possible replacement. According to SLD secretary general Marek Dyduch top party leadership is to undergo an evaluation during the convention. Some politicians told PAP that all leaders may be replaced during the convention. A SLD national council preparing the programme of the convention is to meet on May 20. Among the most frequently named Oleksy's successors are: Economy and Labour Minister Jacek Piechota, deputy SLD head Grzegorz Napieralski and Mazowsze branch head Jacek Zdrojewski. Also mentioned has been Agriculture Minister Wojciech Olejniczak.

Warsaw, May 12: Russia's foreign ministry Thursday criticized Poland's conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS) in connection with its TV election spots condemning Russia's policy towards Poland, the recent armistice celebrations in Moscow and Polish president Aleksander Kwasniewski's attendance of the celebrations. "As a rule Moscow does not pass comment on such productions. However, in this case we are alarmed by the fact that the film is completely geared to undermining Russian-Polish relations and inspiring negative attitudes towards Russia and its nations. We hope such anti-Russian agitation does not win a broad support in Polish society", the Russian ministry wrote in an online statement. PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski today called Russia's reaction "evident interference in Poland's internal affairs" and proof that Russia "believed it could meddle in Polish election campaigns". "If Poland wanted to comment on the way it is treated in the Russian media, we would have to issue such statements constantly, he remarked, adding that Russia's reaction "showed what kind of role it saw Poland in". The 45-second spots were aired on Polish public TV last week between Thursday and Sunday. Their commentator among others accused the Soviet Union of invading Poland during world war two and criticized the Moscow armistice celebrations as "coercing gratitude for Yalta". Also shown were film clips from Ukraine's "orange revolution", another shot pictured Kaczynski stating that Poland "has not allowed Russia to stifle democracy" in Ukraine.

Warsaw, May 12: Fifty nine percent of Poles are not interested in the work of the Sejm special inquiry committee for PKN Orlen. 61 percent declare lack of interest in the committee for the privatisation of PZU insurance company, indicates the newest CBOS poll. Thirty nine percent of Poles said they were interested in the committee examining PKN Orlen and 2 percent had no opinion on the matter. 37 percent monitored the work of the Sejm cttee for PZU privatisation.

Warsaw, May 12: With the work on the 2006 budget underway, the Rzeczpospolita daily notes that the finance ministry assumes that the deficit will be smaller than this year and the parties with the biggest public support want bigger spending cuts. The paper stressed that the Finance Minister Miroslaw Gronicki wants next year's budget deficit to be 30 billion zlotys, down from this year. But this proposal is supported only by the Democratic left Alliance and the Social-democracy of Poland. The Citizen's Platform wants to lower spending even by 10-20 billion zlotys. Leader in public opinion polls, the Law and Justice, supports budget lowering plans but does not want to reduce social welfare spending. The League of Polish Families and the Self-Defence do not think there is a need to cut the deficit.

Warsaw, May 12: Poland's foreign trade deficit fell to 1 billion and 542.6 million euros after march 2005 from 2 billion and 622.1 million after March 2004, the Central Statistical Office (GUS) said Thursday. Foreign trade deficit in dollars fell to 2 billion 22.3 million USD from 3 billion and 265.7 million USD after March 2004. Exports rose by 23.5 per cent to 16.2 billion euros from 13.1 after March 2004. Exports in dollars increased by 30.1 pct to 21.4 billion USD. Imports after March 2005 at 17.4 billion euros, rose 14.8 pct. Imports in dollars increased to 23.4 billion USD, or by 21.0 pct.

Warsaw, May 12: Poland has paid back the 868 million USD part of the Paris Club debt owed to the United States on Thursday, deputy Finance Minister Wieslaw Szczuka said. Szczuka said that today's payment means the total payback of the US part of the Paris Club debt with the exclusion of 96 million USD transferred to the Ekofund. On Friday, Poland will repay 202 million euros to Sweden. Szczuka added that the ministry is still waiting for a reply of the biggest Paris Club creditor - France which Poland owes 2.6 billion euros.

Katowice, May 12: One of the biggest Gillette's European distribution centres opened in Dabrowa Gornicza, southern Poland on Thursday. The investment, worth 2.5 million euros will give jobs to more than 200 people and will send its products to customers in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and to distribution centres in Africa and Asia. John Jensen, the Gillette Group Poland CEO, told a news conference in Dabrowa Gornicza on Thursday that they had picked up Poland due to its geographical location, the size of the market and good terms for investors.

Warsaw, May 12: A paper read by Ryszard Kapuscinski speaking of the contribution of translators into development of culture inaugurated the 1st World Congress of Translators from Polish Literature in Cracow on Thursday. The Congress, the first event in its kind held in Poland, is attended by over 170 persons from all over the world. The participants in the Congress arrived from 50 countries, mostly European, but also from China, Egypt and Cuba.

Cracow, May 12: Literary Nobel prize winner Irish poet Seamus Heaney and former Poland's foreign minister Bronislaw Geremek received honoris causa doctorates from the Jagiellonian University on Thursday. Seamus Heaney was awarded for his poetry and essays and for promotion of Polish contemporary poetry. Bronislaw Germek was honoured for academic achievements and contribution to political transformations in Poland and Europe. The ceremony attracted many guests, including literary Nobel prize winner Wislawa Szymborska, historian Norman Davies and reporter Ryszard Kapuscinski.

Warsaw, May 16: Last year's EU enlargement confirms that our continent is developing in a proper direction, President Aleksander Kwasniewski said inaugurating the 3rd Summit of the Council of Europe at Warsaw's Royal castle on Monday morning. The direction is clear, namely, the defence of human rights, parliamentary democracy and the rule of law. These are the same values which were the foundation of our organization established in 1949, the Polish president stressed. The summit is attended by 46 delegations from the Council of Europe member-states, including 22 presidents and 13 prime ministers, and by representatives of observer countries at the Council of Europe, namely, Japan, Canada, Mexico, U.S. and the Vatican. The first plenary session is titled "European unity, European values".

Warsaw, May 15: We want to dedicate our work to you, young people, President Aleksander Kwasniewski said in Warsaw on Sunday night at the end of the Schuman Parade. Speaking to European Union supporters from Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and Germany gathered at a concert in front of the Palace of Culture and Science Kwasniewski underlined that they will transfer this integrated Europe to young people with great joy. He added that Europe has also room for democratic Ukraine, the "great nation that demanded its dignity back by itself. "We are with you, we wish you all the best," the president said to young Ukrainians.

Warsaw, May 15: The Schuman Parade, a colourful procession of hundreds of European Union advocates from Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and Germany marched through the centre on Warsaw on Sunday afternoon. Opening the event Secretary General of the Council of Europe Terry Davis noted that nations of Europe not only witnessed the history but also took an active part in creating it. We want democracy and human rights for all Europeans, he said. Numerous participants in the Parade were welcomed by Polish commissioner at the European Union Danuta Huebner, head of the Office of the Committee for European Integration Jaroslaw Pietras and head of the Roberta Schumana Foundation Roza Thun. Some participants carried EU, Polish, Ukrainian and Belarussia banners, others carried a 300-meter Unity and Peace Sash with wishes of European unity and good neighbourhood. The parade ended in front of the palace of Culture and Science, where a "European City" has been built for the participants.

European Youth Summit started two-day debates

Warsaw, May 15: The 2nd European Youth Summit was inaugurated in Warsaw on Sunday by Secretary General of the Council of Europe Terry Davis, who called on the young people to take part in the next year European campaign against discrimination and exclusion. Davis termed racism, intolerance and anti-Semitism terrible viruses on the body of Europe. The two-day event is attended by some 100 representatives of youth organisations from more than 40 European countries. The Summit aims to involve young people in the discussion on the role and directions of the Council of Europe's actions in the 21st century. The final report on the meeting will be presented to the participants in the Warsaw summit of the Council of Europe. Vice-President of European Youth Forum Bettina Schwarzmayr said the youth summit will work on plans of an all-European campaign of the Council of Europe for 2006 promoting tolerance and democracy. The campaign will be presented not only by mass media; it will also reach people directly via street actions - theatre, European cities or parades, like the Schuman Parade. Michael Ingledow of the Council of Europe's Department for Youth and Sports told PAP that the two-day debates would be devoted to the practical side of religious tolerance in Europe between Christians, Jews and Muslims. The youth invited politicians to attend the debates including former President Lech Walesa, Terry Davis and Education Minister Miroslaw Sawicki. Terry Davis said on Saturday that only 19 member states have ratified the revised Social Charter that protects the fundamental social and economic freedoms of citizens of the states-signatories. According to Davis, non-government organisations may play an important role in promoting the Charter among the remaining member-states.

Warsaw, April 16: President Aleksander Kwasniewski on Monday termed the Law and Justice PiS idea to deprive Wojciech Jaruzelski of his rank of general "scandalous." The PiS came out with the idea after Jaruzelski's statements during his visit to Russia in connection with the end of WW2. "Nobody should be punished or threatened with a punishment for his

views," the president told Radio One. In an interview for Izvestya daily on May 12 Jaruzelski said that Solidarity operations in 1981 could destabilise the state and result in civil war. He said that Soviet occupation meant freedom from fascism. Jaruzelski claims the statements had been taken out of the context and that he defended the Polish interest in Russia.

Warsaw, May 13: At the moment the government does not have the necessary backing in parliament but this is no problem as the present term is running to an end, Prime Minister Marek Belka told PAP on Friday. Belka refused to comment suggestions by the ruling Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) to appoint defence minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski to deputy PM, however he did not exclude "cosmetic reshuffles" in the government. Belka criticized SLD's proposals regarding retirement, minimum wages and compensation payments for lowest-bracket pensioners and assured the government's solutions were much better. Asked about the coming presidential elections Belka said he had no ambitions to run for the post and named Sejm speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz among the likely candidates.

Warsaw, May 13: Polish stand on the EU 2007-2013 budget is actually drafted and it is a firm position, Belka said in a Friday interview for PAP. However, the Prime Minister declined to go into the details of the government stand, but stressed that of course the size of the budget is important for Poland but more important is the structure of the future EU budget. "Expenditures on the cohesion fund should be under special protection," noted Belka. In his opinion the drafting of 2006 national budget law with a deficit of 30 billion zlotys (9.2 bn USD) will be this government's contribution to the opportunity for Poland to enter ERM2 in 2007 and to adopt the euro in 2009. Belka added that the draft budget for 2006 would envisage the lowering of public sector deficit to 3.0-3.3 percent of GDP from 3.5-3.7 percent of GDP in 2005. Speaking on Polish-Russian relations, the PM said that they should be looked at from the perspective of Poland's EU membership. However, there might be certain problems, including the future of the union's energy policy which should be "shaped in Brussels and not in Hanover." The PM referred to Russian-German plans to build a north European gas pipeline through the Baltic sea. Belka stressed that it is widely felt that Russia is trying to limit Poland's role in the shaping of the EU's foreign policy, including foreign trade policy. The PM underlined adding that Russia must come to terms with the fact that Poland is one of the EU members and must digest what has taken place in Kiev.

Warsaw, May 13: Moscow ceremonies marking the 60th anniversary of the end of WW2 have cooled down Polish-Russian relations, Polish Foreign Minister Adam Rotfeld said Friday at a conference summing up the foreign policy of the Marek Belka government. In this context the minister stressed the role of mass media in a "reliable" shaping of relations between Poland and Russia. "We all should have the sense of responsibility," he appealed. Rotfeld did not rule out that the deterioration of relations between Warsaw and Moscow is a "deliberate action" aimed at limiting Poland's role in outlining the European Union policy towards Russia. But he did not say whose action could it be. He noted that economic relations with Russia have developed smoothly. I assess economic cooperation as good or even excellent, he said. The minister praised the result of the first 12 months of Poland's membership of the EU. Results are better than we expected, he said and pointed out to improvement in the quality of relations with France and Germany. Relations with the United States are, according to Rotfeld, "the best in the history." The minister pointed out to the "Polish-American strategic dialogue," apart from privileged relations Poland had with Great Britian, Australia, Japan and Israel. The minister terms as "a spectacular success" Poland's contribution in preventing bloodshed in Ukraine during last year's electoral crisis. "One should be aware that Poland does not inspire changes in Ukraine. The credit should be given to the Ukrainian society. We played and important role in helping the increasingly dramatic course of events end in a peaceful way.

Warsaw, May 13: Poland's recent ambassadorial nominations are not political, foreign minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld said on Friday commenting press reports that he had granted ambassadorships to persons close to the present government. According to Rotfeld reports in today's Rzeczpospolita daily that members of the current government are to be posted off to foreign embassies are "artificially construed". There were more nominations last year. They are carried out according to a very simple system for which I take full responsibility, Rotfeld said. According to Rzeczpospolita among the new nominations are former Olympic Committee president Stefan Paszczyk (Argentina), foreign viceministers Jakub Wolski (Denmark) and Andrzej Zalucki (Czech Republic) and secretary of state in the foreign ministry Jan Truszczynski (Paris).

Warsaw, May 13: The Belarussian government's decision to annul a March congress of the Union of Poles in Belarus (ZPB) is illegal, Polish foreign minister Adam Rotfeld said Friday in Warsaw. On Thursday the Belarussian justice ministry announced that last March's congress of the ZPB organization representing Poles in Belarus was invalid. In result of the decision the new ZPB authorities elected at the congress will have to resign and the organization's chair will return to previous chairman Tadeusz Kruczkowski. This was an illegal act in violation of multi- and bilateral agreements and we won't accept it, Rotfeld said.

Asked what steps Poland planned in response to the move, Rotfeld said that Belarus "will find out" what they will be.

Warsaw, May 13: Leader of the Democratic Left Alliance SLD Jozef Oleksy hopes that Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz will run in this year presidential elections and that he will not be a candidate solely of the SLD. Cimoszewicz is likely to make a decision on his future very soon. As he puts it he is closer to adopt a negative attitude to running in the race but at the same time he is scared about Poland under the right-wing which, in his opinion, is narrow-minded especially as regards international affairs. According to SLD leader if Cimoszewicz refuses to run the SLD will hold a quick inter-party plebiscite to single out a party candidate. Oleksy also said that the SLD may postpone its convention scheduled for May 29 if presidential runner is not approved by the date.

Warsaw, May 15: Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski is paying an official visit to Israel on May 16-17, the ministry has reported. During his two-day stay Szmajdzinski will be received by Israeli President Moshe Katzav and will meet with his counterpart Shaul Mofaz. The talks are to focus on the broadening of the cooperation in science and technology, exchange of information on the exploitation of F-16 planes and the situation in Iraq.

Lutsk, May 13: A Polish-Ukrainian-Lithuanian Parliamentary Assembly was set up in Lutsk, western Ukraine on Friday with a task to help Ukraine integrate with the European Union and Euro-Atlantic structures. A related statement was signed by Speakers of the Polish and Lithuanian Sejms Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz and Arturas Paulauskas as well as Ukrainian parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn. Following the ceremony Cimoszewicz said that the assembly statutes would be adopted at the first meeting, to be held soon. According to Cimoszewicz, the assembly should meet once or twice a year. The Polish Sejm speaker confirmed Polish intentions to seek all possible measures of support for Ukraine not only in Europe but also on its own territory as the idea of integration has to take a root here, as he put it. The idea of setting up the assembly was launched by the Lithuanian side during Cimoszewicz's January visit to Vilnius.

Warsaw, May 13: According to a May CBOS poll the Citizen' Platform PO returned to the top position in ratings of political parties with a 25 percent of support. April's leader the Law and Justice PiS can count on 20 percent of supporting votes. The PO rating went up 5 percentage points while that of PiS fell by 4 percentage points. Samoobrona may count on 14 percent of supporters, the number of which has not changed since last month. Support for the League of Polish Families LPR fell from 10 percent to 8 percent in May. The rating of the Democratic Left Alliance SLD rose to 7 percent in May from 4 percent in April. The Social Democracy of Poland SdPl got 6 percent in May against 5 percent in April. The Polish Peasant Party (PSL) may count on 5 percent of votes against 4 percent last month. The new Democratic Party would not win seats enter the Sejm for it is supported by 3 percent of would-be electorate.

Warsaw, May 15: Senator Andrzej Spychalski from Kalisz was elected new leader of the Union of Labour UP on Sunday. He was the only candidate for the post and won with 168 votes out of 226 cast in total. Spychalski, until Sunday the party secretary general said he supported the unity of the Polish left-wing in parliamentary elections and a single candidate for the president. According to him, unity may protect the Polish left-wing against a catastrophe. The congress was called in connection with the resignation of its former head Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka.

Warsaw, May 15: "The monument we are unveiling today is not only a tribute to an exceptional man, the symbol of community, thought and action but also the testimony of a meeting between General Charles de Gaulle and Poland," said French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier in Warsaw on Sunday. The ceremonies of unveiling the monument to the former French president was attended by Poland's Foreign Minister Adam Rotfeld and Warsaw President Lech Kaczynski.The monument is situated at a roundabout named after the general downtown Warsaw. The bronze statute of the general is a replica of de Gaulle's figure from Paris.

Gdansk, May 15: President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barosso, Presidents of the U.S. George Bush, of Germany Horst Koehler, of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are the top officials invited to the ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of the August strikes and the founding of the Solidarity labour union. The Honorary Committee of the anniversary celebrations met in Gdansk on Saturday. The meeting was attended by head of the Committee Lech Walesa and members Jan Krzysztof Bielecki, Bogdan Borusewicz, Jerzy Buzek, Wieslaw Chrzanowski, archbishop Tadeusz Goclowski, Marian Krzaklewski, Tadeusz Mazowiecki and Janusz Sniadek. The invitation was also sent to President of Brazil L. I. Lula da Silva and Prime Ministers of central and eastern Europe.

Warsaw, May 15: The Council of Europe is unnecessary, expensive and overly bureaucratic structure, the operations of which bring no results, participants in the Critical Conference, organised by the Federation of Anarchists argued in Warsaw on Saturday. The conference was organised in connection with the 3rd summit of the Council of Europe that is to take place in Warsaw on Monday and Tuesday. Delegates from 46 Council of Europe states including 21 presidents and 18 PMs are to adopt two main documents, namely the "Warsaw Declaration" and the Plan of Action of the Council of Europe outlining concrete tasks for the council for future. According to Jakub Gawlikowski of the federation, the council deserves criticism because it promotes the implementation of political and economic interests and not taking care of people, it is expensive and inefficient as it produces only tons of paper.

London, May 15: Amnesty International (AI) and Anti-Slavery International (ASI) have appealed to the Council of Europe to adopt a convention banning trafficking in people at its coming summit in Warsaw. The wording of the convention will be available for signing by the participants during the third meeting of the organisation on May 16 and 17. It was adopted on May 3 by ministers of 46 countries making up the Council of Europe as well as countries which are not members like the U.S., Canada, the Vatican, Japan and Mexico. Anti-slavery comprises the sale of women for brothels, or children for work, adoption or as prostitutes.

Warsaw, May 13: Poland's gross privatisation revenues on May 12 totalled 815.8 million zlotys (251 million USD), that is 14.39 per cent of the annual plan, the Treasury Ministry announced on Friday. The sum includes revenue from the public sale of shares in spirits maker Polmos Bialystok that equalled 303.7 million zlotys.The ministry earmarked 682.6 million zlotys to finance the state budget deficit.

Let us create Europe which will be a common home: Kwasniewski

Warsaw, May 16: "Let us create a Europe which will become a common home and which will give pride and satisfaction not only to us but also to future generations," President Aleksander Kwasniewski said inaugurating the 3rd Summit of the Council of Europe at Warsaw's Royal Castle on Monday morning. "I believe that the summit of the Council of Europe in Warsaw will play a significant role in building such a better world," the Polish president said and stressed that in Europe of the 21st century no one should be left alone and forgotten. "Let us do everything so that each citizen can feel like a full-right European in this family of nations. Last year's EU enlargement confirms that our continent is developing in a proper direction," President Kwasniewski said and added that our efforts were bringing good results but that we must continue to care for rights of all nations to democracy. "The direction is clear, namely, the defense of human rights, parliamentary democracy and the rule of law. These are the same

values which were the foundation of our organization established in 1949," stressed. Poland wants to give Europe a many century long experience of tolerance and coexistence of different religions and cultures, the president said and added that "having joined the EU Poles are convinced that the Union should be open to other countries of the continent" and stressed that the "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine was the example of unity of societies. The Polish president also said that the summit was planned to sum up the achievements of the Council of Europe and think about its future. It is also planned to discuss how to consolidate Europe's unity, improve its architecture and solve together the most urgent European problems.

Kwasniewski: Poland wants good EU-Russia relations

Warsaw, May 16: Speaking for TVP3 public regional channel president Aleksander Kwasniewski said good EU-Russia relations lie in Poland's deepest interest. "We shall have the sense of both security and normalcy if relations between the European Union and Russia are very good," the president said during a break in the debates of the Warsaw summit of the Council of Europe. The president noted that Poland's growing position in NATO and the EU, as well as involvement in Iraq had an impact on Polish-Russian relations. "Ukraine was undoubtedly a turning point" when Poland and Russia assumed different positions, Kwasniewski observed. In his opinion differences in standpoints is the cause of tension between Poland and Russia. The Polish president also criticised recent actions of Belarussian authorities against the Union of Poles in Belarus as "scandalous" and "unacceptable".

Warsaw, Paris, Moscow, May 16: President Aleksander Kwasniewski said that all countries were free to decide the composition of their delegations to the 3rd Summit of the Council of Europe. In an interview for radio One on Monday the Polish president said Russian President Vladimir Putin had maintained from the very beginning he would not be able to come. Kwasniewski said that the number of presidents, prime ministers and ministers attending the Warsaw summit is similar to the one reported during the summit in Strasbourg. The Russian Izvestya daily reported Monday that the Warsaw Summit of the Council of Europe was marked by various rumours and intrigues still before it began. And Russia was its main subject, the daily added. The French president and the prime ministers of Great Britain, Italy and Sweden are not present in Warsaw and their absence has been nearly not mentioned. But the "refusal" of the Russian president to come to Warsaw was described as nearly the main intrigue of the summit, the daily said.

Warsaw, May 16: Europe of future is a united Europe, based on democratic values, human rights and law and order, Secretary General of the Council of Europe Terry Davis said during an inauguration of its 3rd summit in Warsaw on Monday. During the summit the Council of Europe must define its goal in the world full of international organizations, Davis said.I believe that the people of Europe want more democracy, more respect for human rights and attach more significance to the rule of law, Davis said. Davis stressed that the main tasks facing the Council of Europe are the development and expansion of democracy, defense and

Warsaw, May 16: The protection of European heritage means more than just protecting the accomplishments of the Council of Europe over the past 56 years of its activity, it means the ability to identify new challenges, prime minister Marek Belka said when opening the debates of the second session of the Council of Europe summit meeting here Monday. He recalled that the Council focused on defending three basic principles: human rights, democracy and the rule of law. However, success has not been complete in any one of these fields, Belka claimed. Europeans still face threats from corruption, intolerance, xenophobia, discrimination against individuals and groups, organized crime, unequal access to courts. These old problems have been augmented by new unwelcome trends associated with new technology, greater freedom of travel and settlement, Belka pointed out. Terrorism in all its forms, including cyberterrorism, was the most characteristic new threat. "The Council of Europe can make special contribution to fighting terrorism by defending the rights of victims and all human rights that can be jeopardized by terrorism," Belka declared. An important challenge before 46 member states of the Council of Europe is work on enhancing the social cohesion of the continent, Belka noted.

Warsaw, May 16: Challenges facing Europe were the main topic of debates here Monday afternoon of the Council of Europe summit meeting. Summing up the discussion prime minister Marek Belka said that three CoE conventions presented for signature Monday were a

response to these challenges. The conventions deal with fighting terrorism, white slave trade and money laundering. Poland will be the depositary of the conventions and signed them as the first state Monday. "It seems that the summit will be useful and give a certain new impulse to the Council of Europe and its relations with other important organizations," Belka said. He opined that the Polish position on the situation in Belarus was Monday supported by many participants in the meeting. "It is hard to imagine the admission to the Council of a country which at present tries to almost provocatively break certain rules that are sacred for Europe," Belka told newsmen. Belarus was among the most important topics of the summit that gathered delegates from 46 member states and several observer states and organizations. Lithuanian president Valdas Adamkus stated that "Belarus was in the grey zone on the map of European democracy." Polish foreign minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld told newsmen that Belarus was "the last example of things disapproved by the Council of Europe, a skansen." French foreign minister Michel Barnier called on Belarus to meet the standards required by the CoE to pave the way for its admission to the CoE. Latvia's president Vaira Vike-Freiberga said that Belarus deserved "something much better than the authoritarian regime it now has." The summit devoted much time to conflicts under way in the countries belonging to the CoE, including the Transdniestria in Moldova, the Mountainous Karabakh and Georgia. The EU commissioner for external relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner said that the EU watched the course of events in Uzbekistan "with concern". French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier has called on Belarus to meet the standards of the Council of Europe so that it could become the organisation member.

Warsaw, May 16: Supporting initiatives designed to "consolidate the unity of Europe" will be one of the main priorities of Portugal's Chairmanship of the Council of Europe, according to Portugal's Prime Minister Jose Socrates who addressed the 3rd Summit of the Council of Europe on Monday. Portugal will take over the Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe from Poland at the end of the summit on Tuesday. According to Socrates, cohesion understood as moves designed to level out development differences between European countries and regions is a "necessary step for the entire continent to develop and achieve progress". This is for us a fundamental aspect of a socio-economic growth, the PM said. Our idea of a united Europe has been based on peace and freedom. This idea has been the purpose of the Council of Europe for 60 years and will continue to be the main source of our inspiration, Socrates stressed.

PM: Chances for EU budget compromise in June - less than 50 pct

Warsaw, May 16: Prime Minister Marek Belka described the chances for reaching a compromise on the new EU budget for 2007-2013 in June as "less than 50 percent." But this does not mean that there is no such a chance, he stressed. "Politically it would be good not only for Poland but for the most important countries of Western Europe, if the compromise was negotiated still during the Luxembourg presidency," Belka told journalists on Monday after the conclusion of the first day of debates of the Council of Europe summit in Warsaw. Net contributors to the EU budget (Austria, Great Britain, Germany, France, Sweden, Holland) want the EU budget to be 1 percent of the GDP. The European Commission proposes higher budget - at 1.14 percent of the GDP.

Warsaw, May 16: Leaders of Norway and Finland told the 3rd summit of the European Council in Warsaw on Monday that this organisation should be open to changes so that it could continue playing the key role in protecting and promoting human rights and human dignity. This was the message conveyed by Norwegian PM Kjell Magne Bondevik and Finnish President Tarja Halonen. The Council of Europe should promote good governments, corruption counteracting, democracy and justice so as to provide equal status and rights to every citizen, Norwegian PM said. Focused on fundamental European values and areas belonging to its nature the organisation will become the mechanism of pan-European cooperation. The need for improving the effectiveness of the Council of Europe in view of new challenges related to globalisation was mentioned by the president of Finland. She stressed that the council should consider who to strengthen the European Court on Human Rights which has been flooded with increasing number of cases.

Warsaw, May 16: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday while addressing the 3rd Summit of the Council of Europe that only a strong state can secure the observance of human rights. Lavrov quoted Russian President Vladimir Putin's words that "Russia has always been, is and will remain one of the biggest European nations." The Russian foreign minister stressed that Russia together with other nations, sometimes staying behind and sometimes being ahead of European standards, went through the difficult period of reforms and introduction of parliamentarism, and was working to recognize the significance of the defense of human rights and respect of minority rights and principles of democracy. He added he was satisfied with the course of debates of the 3rd summit meeting of the Council of Europe and emphasized the "high quality" of documents prepared by the summit. The Warsaw summit "will go down in history as a summit of concrete decisions and consolidation of the Council of Europe," Lavrov predicted.

European Youth Summit ends

Warsaw, May 16: Some 100 participants from over 40 countries took part in the European Youth Summit which ended here Monday after two days of debates. They discussed ways to consolidate European solidarity in the face of such threats as racism, xenophobia, antisemitism and islamophobia. A declaration based on the principle "different but equal" was

adopted on the second day of the meeting. A report from the meeting was adopted that will be presented to participants in the Council of Europe summit on Tuesday. The youth delegates met with Lech Walesa, Terry Davis and education minister Miroslaw Sawicki. Young people, you may improve this world because you are free from the burden of communism and war. However, you can't do this throwing stones like anti-globalists. You will have to use the power of your intellect, former President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa said during the summit.

Warsaw, May 16: League of Polish Families (LPR) leader Roman Giertych Monday appealed for the disclosure of intelligence records on the 1989 Round Table talks between Poland's communist government and the opposition, which in his opinion contained proof that a "secret political accord" had been sealed at the meeting. According to LPR the Round Table participants secretly agreed to play political foes in public but in fact leave each other alone. The understanding was to scream at each other at election time but in fact not touch one another's marbles, LPR politician Zygmunt Wrzodak said.

Left defends Jaruzelski

Warsaw, May 16: Polish leftists at a Monday conference devoted to the 60th anniversary of the end of World War Two appealed for a stop to the "slanderous propaganda campaign" against former communist strongman, general Wojciech Jaruzelski. The meeting was attended by Jaruzelski, Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) leaders Jozef Oleksy, Marek Dyduch and Katarzyna Piekarska, and members and supporters of a newly-founded Public Committee for the Protection of the Good Name, Dignity and Honour of General Jaruzelski including civil rights protagonist Maria Szyszkowska. The appeal came in response to last Saturday's statement by Law and Justice (PiS) leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who told PAP that his party wanted to deprive Jaruzelski of his general's rank in connection with his address at the recent armistice celebrations in Moscow. The conference appealed for "respect for the social, economic and cultural successes of the Polish People's Republic, in whose history general Jaruzelski played a crucial part", the participants also suggested dropping all legal proceedings against the general, which they described as "groundless and infringing on the norms of legal statehood".

Warsaw, May 16: The prices of consumer goods and services were 3.0 per cent higher in April than in the same month of the preceding year, the Central Statistical Office announced Monday. Compared to March 2005 prices grew by 0.4 per cent. Market forecasts had predicted year on year inflation at 2.8-3.1 per cent.

Warsaw, May 16: The budget deficit after April reached 13 billion and 876.9 million zlotys or 39.6 percent of the annual plan of 35 billion zlotys, the Finance Ministry said on Monday. Expenditure after April amounted to 69 billion and 636.2 million zlotys or 33.2 percent of the 209 billion and 703.7 million planned for 2005. The budget revenues reached 55 billion and 759.3 million zlotys or 31.9 of the planned 174 billion and 703.7 million zlotys.

Warsaw, May 16: In the January-April 2005 period Polish car plants produced 175,122 new passenger cars, up 1.8 percent from the corresponding period of 2004, Samar institute monitoring the car market in Poland said Monday. In April 2005 Polish plants produced 45,756 passenger cars, 2.0 percent more than in March 2005 but 6.0 percent less than in April

2004. In April 2005 Polish plants produced 7,190 vans, 3.5 percent less than in March 2005 but 13.2 percent more than in April 2004. According to Samar, only 2,950 cars produced in Poland were sold on the home market in April 2005, 55 percent less than a year ago. Car sales in the first four months of 2005 were by 49 percent lower than in the corresponding period of 2004. Fiat still continues to be the biggest car producer in Poland with a 53.6 percent share in April's total production. It is followed by Opel (24.5 percent), Volkswagen (16.1 percent, and FSO (5.8 percent). Fiat Panda was the most popular car among vehicles produced in Poland with 77,375 units sold during the first four months of 2005. It is followed by Opel Astra, Volkswagen Caddy, Opel Agila, Fiat Seicento, FSO Lanos, VW Transporter and FSO Matiz.

Warsaw, May 16: Net profit of the KGHM Polska Miedz group rose to 507.8 million zlotys in the 1st quarter of 2005 from 401.3 million zlotys in the 1st quarter of 2004, the company said in a communique on Monday. KGHM group's sales revenues rose to 1.91 billion zlotys from 1.78 billion zlotys year-on-year.Operating profit rose to 587 million zlotys from 493.6 million

zlotys after the 1st quarter of 2004. KGHM-owned Telefonia Dialog made 12.6 million zlotys in net profits in the 1st quarter of 2005. Dialog's sales revenues rose 14 percent year-on-year to 122.7 million zlotys.

Warsaw, May 16: The Copernicus award will be jointly conferred every two years to two researchers, one in Germany and one in Poland, as of May 1, 2006.The prize money of 50 thousand euros will be divided equally among the recipients. "The award is a joint idea of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft and the Foundation for Polish Science. We want to work together and support the development of scientific cooperation between our countries," Tomasz Perkowski of the Polish Foundation said. The prize will be awarded for outstanding contribution to Polish-German research cooperation, in particular for promoting young researchers, Perkowski said. Candidates will be nominated by researchers working at universities or research institutions in the two countries For the first time the award will be granted on May 1, 2006, the second anniversary of Poland's joining the European Union.

Warsaw, May 18: The next general elections in Poland will be held on September 25, President Aleksander Kwasniewski announced on Wednesday following a meeting with Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz. Cimoszewicz announced that the first round of presidential elections will be held two weeks after general elections, on October 9 and if necessary the second round would be held two weeks later. Speaking at a news conference Kwasniewski said that the date of a referendum on the European Constitutional Treaty remains to be an open question. He recalled that the Sejm has not yet decided whether the treaty is to be ratified by way of a referendum or parliament. The president added that if parliament decides on a referendum than it could be held together with the presidential elections.

Warsaw, May 18: Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz will not run for president. He announced his decision after a meeting with President Aleksander Kwasniewski on Wednesday. Speaking at a press conference Cimoszewicz said he upheld his earlier declarations that he intended to withdraw from politics after the present term of the Sejm ends. He added that "diversified" and chiefly personal reasons are behind his decision. Cimoszewicz said very many persons asked him and appealed on him to run, and very often these suggestions were accompanied by favourable opinions about his political activities. Also the president expressed his support many times. President Kwasniewski deplored Cimoszewicz's resolve. He believes that the Sejm speaker has excellent qualifications and prospects to win and hold the highest state post. "This decision is important and difficult decision, and I respect it," the president said. Still, he does not believe that Cimoszewicz would withdraw from the "broadly conceived public life. "In the recent presidential poll run by CBOS Cimoszewicz occupied the third place with a 14-percent support. Meanwhile leader of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) Jozef Oleksy said Cimoszewicz's decision means a "loss for the elections." Oleksy said this creates a new situation for the SLD and probably a plebiscite will be held among the party members which will have to choose their candidate. "It's ok. if there are two candidates of the left," he said. Leader of the Social Democracy SdPl Marek Borowski commenting on Cimoszewicz's decision said it was "a proof of great responsibility" and told newsmen that he counted on Cimoszewicz's support in his own presidential campaign. Borowski who is running for presidency appealed to left-oriented electorate for support. It is "in the interest of the left that all honest people of the left should cooperate, and there are such people also in the SLD," he concluded.

Warsaw, May 18: EU issues, the EU Constitutional Treaty and EU eastern policy are the main subjects to be discussed by the Presidents of Poland and France Aleksander Kwasniewski and Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder during a summit meeting of the Weimar Triangle in Nancy, France, on Thursday. The meeting will be held ten days before an EU Constitution referendum in France. Opinion polls suggest French voters could reject the constitution. "It is extremely significant for Poland to have good relations with France and Germany. And these relations have been developing very well, also thanks to our cooperation within the Weimar Triangle," head of the presidential office for international affairs Wieslaw Scholz told PAP on Wednesday.

Warsaw, May 18: We hope that it will be possible to reach consensus concerning the UN reform package still before its summit in September, Dermot Ahern, the Irish Foreign Minister and Special Envoy of United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, said Wednesday after a meeting with his Polish counterpart Adam Daniel Rotfeld. Ahern is one of the five Special Envoys. His Warsaw visit is part of his task to visit the biggest number of European capitals to present Annan-authored UN reform programme. Ahern said he believed he would win the widest possible support in Europe for the UN reform. The point is to make the EU get involved in promoting this reform package, he said. Rotfeld and Ahern agreed that the planned reform was meeting obstacles connected mainly with the change of the Security Council composition and the planned change of rules governing the use of force. Poland believes that first it is necessary to define UN goals and tasks and then adopt moves necessary to implement them. We must focus on formulating these tasks, Rotfeld said. Ahern stressed the UN secretary general had a similar opinion. Kofi Annan presented the reform package in late March. This has been the first such significant draft of changes in the UN since the establishing of the organization 60 years ago. Later in the day Ahern was received by President Aleksander Kwasniewski.

Warsaw, May 18: The Foreign Ministry has decided to expel from Poland a counselor of the Belarussian embassy in Warsaw, deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Zalucki said at a Wednesday press conference. Zalucki said he summoned on Wednesday the Belarussian Ambassador to Poland to inform him on the expulsion which is implemented according to identical procedures applied by Belarussian authorities vis-a-vis a Polish diplomat in Minsk. Earlier this week, Belarus decided to expel Marek Bucko, counselor at the Polish embassy in Minsk. He was given one month to leave Belarus. Minister Zalucki also said that Poland decided to ban certain Belarussian officials, inspirers of recent steps directed against the Union of Poles in Belarus, from travelling to the country. Zalucki did not identify the officials by name but said there were fewer than 10.

Moscow, May 18: Russia is against attempts made by Poland to use historic issues in building political relations, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Wednesday. According to ITAR-TASS Lavrov said that on Tuesday he met with his Polish opposite number Adam Rotfeld, who opted for eliminating questions that cast shadow on bilateral relations. We expressed readiness to do it but we stressed that the process should be bilateral, said Lavrov who attended the 3rd Council of Europe summit in Warsaw. ITAR-TASS has also quoted spokesman for the Russian foreign ministry Aleksandr Yakovenko as saying that there were no objective reasons behind the cooling down of relations and that campaign in Polish mass media aroused particular concern.

Warsaw, May 18: Eighty seven percent of Poles describe the situation on the labour market as bad or very bad, with only 2 percent describing it as good, according to a CBOS poll. The poll showed that 57 percent thought that the situation on the labour market will not change within the nearest year, 16 percent said it will deteriorate, 15 percent that it will improve. Fifty-three percent did not feel their jobs were under threat with 40 percent thinking otherwise. There are over 3 million registered unemployed in Poland, with only 420 thousand entitled to unemployment benefit. The poll was conducted on a representative sample of 1,052 adult Poles on May 6 to 9.

Warsaw, May 18: The installation in Poland of a stolen cars and art and missing persons databank known as the Schengen system will be postponed by 18 months to December 31, 2006, the Sejm decided on Wednesday. The original installation date was set at June 30, 2005.

Poland is to receive 310 million euros from the Schengen Fund for the installation between

Brussels, May 18: Two Polish members of the European Parliament MEPs who were not allowed to enter Cuba and sent to Mexico from a Cuban airport in small hours on Wednesday said they would appeal to the European Union for re-imposition of diplomatic sanctions against Cuba. Jacek Protasiewicz and Boguslaw Sonik of the Citizens' Platform made the trip to attend a Friday congress on the development of civic society organised by the Cuban opposition. As they did not manage to get diplomatic visas they travelled as tourists. We do not know anything about the incident but if the law was violated the case will be examined by EU foreign ministers, External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy Commissioner

Warsaw, May 18: Over 2 thousand foreigners, who lodged applications for asylum in Poland and went to other EU countries, will be sent back to Poland, the Office for Repatriation and Foreigners said. Under EU legislation asylum seekers are not allowed to lodge the second asylum application while asylum procedure is in progress in one member state. Director general of the Office Jan Wegrzyn said that 800 foreigners returned to Poland so far with the rest to be sent back soon. From last May 8 thousand people sought a refugee status in Poland,

chiefly Chechens, who account for 80 percent of all asylum seekers, Afghans and Pakistanis.

Warsaw, May 18: Polish entrepreneurs should strive for more trade with Ukraine despite difficulties resulting from the country's political instability, the "Lewiatan" Polish Confederation of Private Employers (PKPP) announced on Wednesday at a meeting with Ukrainian government representatives in Warsaw. I would recommend doing business with Ukraine. It's a very fast growing country with a variety on good business options, said PKPP international aide Janusz Kaczurba. Elzbieta Bodio from the economy and labour ministry said the Polish government was in talks with Ukraine on reducing commercial barriers between both countries. She also mentioned talks on the resumption of Ukrainian oil supplies to south Polish refineries, halted last April 18 by Ukrainian PM Julia Timoshenko. According to the ministry 2004 witnessed a rapid rise in Polish-Ukrainian trade, Polish exports to Ukraine leaping 30 percent to over 2 billion USD and Ukraine's sales to Poland increasing by 41 percent (to over 1 billion USD). Poland mainly exports car parts, machinery and synthetics to Ukraine, while Ukraine sells Poland minerals, metals and chemicals.

Warsaw, May 18: The League of Polish Families LPR has motioned the Sejm for an "urgent debate" on the threat to the state security. The LPR substantiated the motion by the allegation that companies of lobbyist Marek D. could be branch offices of the Russian special services and could have materials compromising politicians who had contact with the lobbyist. LPR leader Roman Giertych told a news conference in Warsaw on Wednesday that links between Marek D. and Russia security services had been confirmed by the findings of the Sejm special committee for PKN Orlen. 44-year-old Marek D. was arrested in September last year after being apprehended by officers of the Internal Security Agency on corruption charges.

Berlin, May 18: The Saxony branch of the German neo-nazi National Democratic Party (NPD) regularly prints its magazine "Deutsche Stimme" (German Voice) in Jelenia Gora, southwest Poland. Andreas Schumann, spokesman for the Saxony foreign ministry, confirmed the fact in a Wednesday conversation with PAP. About 10 days ago police in Saxony seized two Polish trucks with Polish-printed editions of the neo-nazi magazine. Schumann explained that the printing of "Deutsche Stimme" in Poland was legitimate as NPD was a legal party. However, the political and moral side of this is shocking - NPD is clandestinely using channels which it publicly criticizes as against German interests, he said. NPD is for the closure of Germany's borders with the Czech Republic and Poland as a measure to protect German labour.

Warsaw, May 18: Air ticket prices may rise by over 300 zlotys if Brussels introduces a tax on airplane tickets to fund extra aid to Africa and the developing world, the Rzeczpospoita daily wrote. EU finance ministers agreed to levy a tax on airplane tickets to raise funds for development aid. The most radical variant foresees a tax of 30 euros on international flights outside the EU and 10 euros on EU flights plus 10 euros on the departure of planes. The financial burden for air passengers may reach 80 euros which will negatively affect the development of cheap air lines. Poland's finance ministry has not decided yet whether to levy the tax, Rzeczpospolita wrote.

Gliwice, May 18: The first PT-91M tank made for Malaysia was presented in Gliwice on Wednesday in the presence of Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski. After a serious of tests on Polish testing grounds the tank will be sent to Malaysia where it will be officially presented. If the tank is approved by Malaysian authorities, the Gliwice-based Bumar Labeda plant will start series production. A 400 million USD contract for the delivery of 48 tanks and

Warsaw, May 18: Hortex's frozen food sales abroad rose over 40 percent year-on-year during 10 months of the current financial year, Hortex said in a communiqué. The value of exports in the entire financial year is estimated at 145 million zlotys. Hortex's financial year lasts from June to May. "As regards the frozen food business we focused on exports, in particular the eastern markets, where consumption growth potential is still big," Hortex's president Tomasz Krupisz said. Two-thirds of Hortex's frozen food sales go to foreign markets, chiefly to Russia (90 percent). Other exports destinations include the Czech Republic, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, Finland, Sweden. Hortex has a 46 percent in the Polish frozen food market.

London, May 18: Europe's largest low fares carrier, Irish Ryanair, is getting ready to launch four new connections to Poland, Ryanair said in London on Wednesday. Encouraged by the success of its service to Wroclaw, Ryanair will operate flights from London Stansted Airport to Gdansk, Szczecin, Bydgoszcz and Rzeszow from October.

Warsaw, May 18: Vistula signed an agreement with Italy's Sixty Active S.p.A. to sell clothes from MurphyNye, Vistula said in a communiqué on Wednesday. "The agreement was signed for three years. Vistula will be an exclusive distributor of MurphyNye clothes in Poland," Vistula said. The clothing company plans to open seven shops with MurphyNye garments in Poland in the next 3 years, Vistula CEO Michal Wojcik added. We plan to build a special network of MurphyNye stores. The first will open in Poznan on June 4, Wojcik said at a press conference. MurphyNye informal and sports clothes are sold in 90 shops in 34 countries.

Warsaw, May 18: The average gross wage in April 2005 totaled 2,471.22 zlotys (748.8 USD) and was 1.8 percent higher than in April 2004 and 0.4 percent lower than in March 2005, the Central Statistical Office GUS said Wednesday. The average wage without payments on earned profits totaled 2,465.33 zlotys, up 1.7 percent on April 2004 figure and fell 0.4 percent on March 2005 figure. Corporate units in March employed 4 million and 753.6 thousand people or 1.7 percent more than in April 2004. Compared to March 2005 the number of employed grew by 0.2 per cent.

Warsaw, May 18: The Sejm on Wednesday passed a controversial cinema bill foreseeing the creation of a Film Institute financed from a 1.5-percent tax on TV commercials. The bill, warmly welcomed by Poland's film milieu, was strongly opposed by TV broadcasters, who called the new tax "a forced tribute". Donald Tusk from the opposing Citizens Platform (PO) said there were no grounds for co-financing national film industry from taxpayer pockets.

Warsaw, May 19: The 2nd International Film Festival "Jewish Motifs - Ha-Motiv Ha-Jehudi" with 40 films in the programme started in Muranow cinema in Warsaw on Thursday. The 40 films in the competition for the Warsaw Phoenix, documentaries, feature, short, animated and experimental films dealing with problems connected with the Jewish people come from various authors of different countries. Among them are "Rosenstrasse" of Margarette von Trotta, and French-Israeli production "Avanim" directed by Raphael Nadjari. Israeli director Savi Gabizon with his picture Nina's Tragedies will be the guest of the festival. Each day of the festival will be hosted by embassies of different countries presenting films referring to the influence of Jewish culture on a given European country and other parts of the world. Israel will be the host on May 19.

Warsaw, May 18: Warsaw president Lech Kaczynski Wednesday announced that he would not agree to a gay rights parade in Warsaw. Kaczynski, who refused to ok the march on its planned June 11 date due to the unveiling on that day of a monument to a Polish general, told PAP that he was also against holding gay parades in the city. On that day (June 11 - PAP) we will be honouring general Rowecki, so a gay parade on the same day would be a joke. Besides, I'm all for tolerance but against propagating gay lifestyles, Kaczynski. The parade organizers today said they had the Warsaw authority. Kaczynski forbade the gay rights demo last year on grounds that it "propagated perversion" and "insulted religion".

Warsaw, May 17: The 3rd Council of Europe Summit has ended in Warsaw on Tuesday afternoon with the adoption of the "Warsaw Declaration". The summit was officially closed by President Aleksander Kwasniewski. The document envisages "further building of Europe without divisions" based on common values - democracy, human rights and rule of law. At the end of the summit, Polish Foreign Minister Adam Rotfeld presenting the declaration to his Portuguese counterpart Diogo Freitas do Amaral, has conveyed the chairmanship over the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. We look forward to the day when Belarus is ready to join the Council of Europe, reads the Warsaw Declaration adopted by the 3rd Summit of the Council of Europe on Tuesday. "Further progress in building a Europe without dividing lines must continue to be based on the common values embodied in the Statute of the Council of Europe: democracy, human rights, the rule of law," the document said. "Sixty years after the end of the Second World War, 30 years after the Helsinki Final Act, 25 years after the founding of "Solidarity" and 15 years after the fall of the Berlin wall, we pay tribute to all those who have made it possible to overcome painful divisions and enlarge our area of democratic security. Today, Europe is guided by a political philosophy of inclusion and complementarity and by a common commitment to multilateralism based on international law," the declaration stressed. "However, we remain concerned by unresolved conflicts that still affect certain parts of the continent, putting at risk the security, unity and democratic stability of member states and threatening the populations concerned. We shall work together for reconciliation and political solutions in conformity with the norms and principles of international law," the document said. "This Summit gives us the opportunity to renew our commitment to the common values and principles which are rooted in Europe's cultural, religious and humanistic heritage a heritage both shared and rich in its diversity. It will also strengthen the Council of Europe's political mandate and enhance its contribution to common stability and security as Europe faces new challenges and threats which require concerted and effective responses, the declaration said. "We can now focus on these challenges and continue to build a united Europe, based on our common values and on shared interests, by strengthening cooperation and solidarity between member states. We will remain open to co-operation with Europe's neighbouring regions and the rest of the world," the document stressed. The Council of Europe will continue to play an active role in combating terrorism, which is a major threat to democratic societies and is unjustifiable under any circumstances and in any culture. It will also further develop its activities in combating corruption, organised crime including money laundering and financial crime trafficking in human beings, cybercrime, and the challenges attendant on scientific and technical progress. We shall promote measures consistent with our values to counter those threats, the declaration stressed. To launch the Organisation on this new course, the summit adopted an Action Plan. The summit also called on Europeans everywhere to share the values which lie at the heart of the Council of Europe's mission human rights, democracy and the rule of law and to join the organization in turning Europe into a creative community, open to knowledge and to diverse cultures, a civic and cohesive community.

Kwasniewski hails Warsaw summit success

Warsaw, May 17: President Aleksander Kwasniewski said that Warsaw's Council of Europe summit was "successful substantially and organisationally." Kwasniewski told a press conference that such meetings as Warsaw's summit "set the directions for the future" and "make sense if are continued." He added that the documents adopted during the course of the summit respond to the present needs. The Council's secretary general Terry Davis and head of its Parliamentary Assembly Rene van der Linden identified the Council's priorities for the coming years as democratisation of Belarus, better effectiveness of the European Court of Human Rights and implementation of the conventions on combating terrorism, human trafficking and money laundering. Kwasniewski stressed that the summit stood up for Belarus and human rights observance in that country. The summit also discussed a need to establish a think tank that would work on streamlining the work of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, Prime Minister Marek Belka said. Belka added that the provisions of the three signed conventions - on fighting terrorism, human trafficking and money laundering - will be included in the plans of the Polish government. Kwasniewski said that the Warsaw's summit was an interesting contribution to discussions on the "European summit," or a meeting of the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the EU, as proposed by Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Warsaw, May 17: The situation in Belarus was the matter of a particular concern for the participants in the 3rd Council of Europe Summit in Warsaw, President Aleksander Kwasniewski said when closing the debates. "It has been expressed in many addresses and statements," the president said. "Widespread violations of all elementary principles of democracy and human rights in Belarus are unacceptable." "The Belarussian nation has been co-creating European civilisation for centuries and brings a significant cultural contribution to

it. It fully deserves to live in freedom, democracy and justice. We are waiting for it to join the family of the Council of Europe states and for being able to realise European values together," he added. The president made an appeal to "all citizens of Europe who cannot fully take advantage of the rights included in the European Human Rights Convention." "I want to send them the words of hope and solidarity. Democratisation of life on our continent is an irreversible process. I am convinced it will be reaching ever-widening circles," Kwasniewski said.

Polish diplomat declared as persona non grata in Belarus

Minsk, May 18: The first secretary of the Polish Embassy in Belarus, Marek Bucko, was declared by the Belarussian authorities as persona non grata, PAP was told by diplomatic sources in Minsk. The information was not officially confirmed by the Belarussian foreign Ministry and by the Polish Embassy in Minsk. Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksander Checko refused to make any comment until he had learnt details of the matter. Bucko's duties included contacts with Belarussian political parties, including opposition ones, and social organizations, including the Union of Poles in Belarus. Under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations Article 9 a receiving State may "at any time and without having to explain its decision," declare any member of a diplomatic staff as persona non grata - that is not acceptable, even before they arrive in the State. It is usual for a person so declared to be recalled to their home nation. If they are not recalled the receiving State "may refuse to recognize the person concerned as a member of the mission."

Ban on visits in Poland for selected Belarussians

Warsaw, May 17: Persons who took part in recent actions aimed against the Union of Poles in Belarussia (ZPB) will be banned from entering Poland and other EU countries, foreign minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld said Tuesday. "We deem it just and honest that those who violate the law bear responsibility" for their actions, Rotfeld told PAP. Last week the Belarussian justice ministry declared not valid the 6th ZPB congress held last March. The congress elected new authorities. Rotfeld explained that Poland wanted to add a few names to the existing EU list of persons banned from entering the Union. There are several Belarussians on the list already. Rotfeld emphasized that Poland differentiated between the Belarussian society and Belarussian state authorities. The former was well disposed towards Poland and the Poles, he noted. Therefore it is the intention of the Polish side that future restrictions apply to concrete persons only.

CoE summit on Human Rights Court reform

Warsaw, May 17: The need for another reform of the European Court of Human Rights was among the leading topics of debate at the 3rd Council of Europe summit which ended here Tuesday. The reform will be helped by the ratification of protocol 14 to the Convention of Human Rights. "The Court is more than another European institution, it is a symbol and the finest achievement of the Council of Europe," said Luzius Wildhaber of Switzerland, the Court's chairman. He noted that the institution conceived 50 years ago must now operate in radically changed conditions: applications can be submitted by 800 million citizens of CoE member states. The Court has been unable to cope with the caseload. The number of cases settled by the Court rose 470 pc between 1999 and 2004. Its budget rose 54 pc, while its clerical staff by 80 pc in the same years.

President signs law on VAT and foreigners

Warsaw, May 17: President Aleksander Kwasniewski signed an amended VAT law on Tuesday. Under the law it is possible to claim VAT deduction in respect of the acquisition of a passenger car used in economic activity with the deduction limit at no more than 6 thousand zlotys. The amended law will take effect on 1 July 2005. President Aleksander Kwasniewski on Tuesday signed amendments to the law on foreigners and the law on granting protection to foreigners on Polish territory. The changed law introduces, among other things, the status of a

"long-term resident of the European Communities" which in tune with the law may be granted to foreigners living in Poland for at least five years, with stable income, social security and legal title to an apartment. The amendment also modifies the definition of "foreigner's family member" who enjoys such a status and includes foreigner's children under the age of 18 and his/her spouse under condition that their marriage is recognized by Polish law. The changes also refer to the visa granting process.

Erdogan on resolutions honouring victims of Armenian massacre

Warsaw, May 17: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has criticized resolutions which have been passed by "parliaments of various countries" to honour the victims of the 1915-17 massacre of Armenians in Turkey. Erdogan, addressing the second day of debates of the 3rd Council of Europe Summit said that the passing of such resolutions is "unjust." The Turkish PM termed the recurring around the world voices on, as he termed, "the so called Armenian genocide" as "lobbying which Turkey does not support." He added that the road to agreement on the developments which took place 90 years ago leads through cooperation of historians from Turkey and Armenia as well as from other countries. "We have opened our archives and we ask Armenia to do the same..." "Each political decision should be based on solid documents. This is our precondition," stressed the Prime Minister.

Warsaw, May 17: Turkey Tuesday opened a wholesale centre in Nadarzyn by Warsaw. The 70-million-USD Maximus Wholesale Centre is the biggest Turkish investment project in Poland. Present at the opening were the Prime Ministers of Turkey and Poland, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Marek Belka. Belka said he hoped the new centre will become "a visiting card of

Turkish economy and industry in Poland". In 2000 Polish-Turkish trade totalled 350 million USD and three years later 1.2 billion USD. The Maximus centre currently offers room for 700 wholesalers, planned in future is a logistics centre, a congress hall and hotels. The centre will employ 2,000 people.

Cimoszewicz to decide his start in presidential race Wednesday

Warsaw, May 17: Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz told PAP Tuesday that he would be ready to make public his decision about his possible start in the presidential elections after his meeting with President Aleksander Kwasniewski on Wednesday. Cimoszewicz thus confirmed his earlier declarations that he would reveal this week his final decision about his joining the presidential race. The speaker said he would discuss with the president the presidential and parliamentary elections calendar.

Szmajdzinski ends visit to Israel

Warsaw, May 17: Poland's Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski on Tuesday ended the two-day official visit to the State of Israel devoted mostly to the continuation of strategic dialogue between defence ministers of both countries, started in Poland on May 28-28, 2004. The strategic dialogue means closer and more partner-like relations in military and technological cooperation. It also provides a platform for the exchange of views, evaluations and experience concerning armed forces' transformation and the most important security problems. Jerzy Szmajdzinski was received by President Moshe Katsav, Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz anddeputyPM and Economy Minister Ehud Olmert. The politicians reviewed the military and political situation in Iraq, the Middle East and in central and eastern Europe. The Polish delegation also visited an aviation industry plant and a F-16 fighters base Both defence ministers positively assessed the course of to-date cooperation and discussed prospects for its development. On behalf of the Polish delegation Minister Szmajdzinski laid wreath at the Yad Vashem Museum.

Annan: priority for UN summit

Warsaw, May 17: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan hopes the September UN summit is treated as a priority by European and world leaders, read a letter from the UN Secretary General read out at Tuesday's session of the Council of Europe Summit in Warsaw by Annan's representative at the meeting, Latvian president Vaira Vike-Freiberga. In his message Annan reminded that he had outlined proposals of reforms within the UN to all member states and appealed to the summit participants to "prepare themselves for far-reaching decisions". The changes are to help put the UN in the fore of the quest for global development, safety and respect for human rights, Annan said. Among the most important changes Annan listed the transformation of the UN Human Rights Commission into a permanent Human Rights Council and the building of an effective anti-nuclear system. The Council will be built along the basic lines of the Commission but would not have its weaknesses. Speaking about the UN's institutional reforms, Annan said the main purpose of the changes was to "make the Security Council more representatives and, in effect, more effective".

CBOS: Kaczynski most popular presidential candidate

Warsaw, May 17: Lech Kaczynski of Law and Justice (PiS) would win the presidential elections if they were held in May. Kaczynski could count on 22 percent of votes, according to a survey carried out by the CBOS polling centre. Next came professor Zbigniew Religa with 15 percent of the declared support, followed by Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz (SLD) and Samoobrona leader Andrzej Lepper with a 14-percent backing each. Donald Tusk of the Citizens' Platform (PO) could count on 13 percent of votes, leader of the Social Democracy of Poland (SdPl) Marek Borowski on 10 percent and Polish Peasant Party (PSL) chairman Waldemar Pawlak on 3 percent of the declared votes.

Poland's first year in EU - success in foreign trade

Warsaw, May 17: Gloomy predictions from EU opponents have not materialised, Polish firms cope very well and Poland achieved a big success in foreign trade, deputy economy ministers Malgorzata Ostrowska and Miroslaw Zielinski told a press conference that summed up Poland's first year in the EU. "We have achieved big successes in trade both with EU countries and those from outside the EU. We have favourable trade balance with such countries as Germany, Sweden and Britain. Our exports to Russia rose 88 percent," Zielinski said. Exports rise accompanied by stronger zloty shows growing competitiveness of Poland's economy. Total exports of commodities rose 37.7 percent when expressed in US dollars and by 26 percent when expressed in euros in 2004. Imports rose 29.3 percent in USD and 18.3 percent in euros. Commodity exchange deficit was cut by 1.3 billion euros to 11.4 billion euros. In 2004 eighty percent of Poland's exports went to the EU market and 68 percent of imports came from the EU. Trade exchange deficit with the common market fell from 3.3 billion euros in 2003 to 1.1 billion euros in 2004. Better macroeconomic indices and economic growth at 5.3 percent in 2004 were the sign of the success of Poland's first year in the EU, Ostrowska said. She noted that Polish firms have to put more effort in making their products more competitive and show greater commitment to innovativeness.

Agriculture: almost 1.5 million apply for subsidies

Warsaw, May 17: As many as 1.450 million Polish farmers have applied for EU direct subsidies this year, around 50,000 more than in the previous year, agriculture minister Wojciech Olejniczak told PAP on Tuesday. Our farmers deserve this money. They should use it well to modernize their farms, Olejniczak said. He added that Poland was still waiting for EC permission to prolong its application period. I expect the Commission to agree not to punish farmers who apply for aid after the May 16 deadline (structural aid applications filed after May 16 of a given year are usually burdened with a 1-percent delay fine - PAP), the minister said.

Warsaw, May 17: The European Commission Tuesday agreed to compensate Polish fishermen in connection with prolonged cod protection periods in the Baltic Sea. The compensation payments will vary according to trawler and crew size, deputy agriculture minister Jerzy Pilarczyk told PAP on Tuesday. Also eligible for compensation will be trawler owners and employees in fish-processing plants. Applications for compensation payments should be filed with branches of the Agricultural Restructurization and Modernization Agency ARiMR) from Wednesday.

Warsaw, May 20: President Aleksander Kwasniewski said Friday that any changes that might be made in the electoral law to parliament now "will be questioned." He made it clear that both he and Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz had a decidedly negative position on introducing any changes in the elections statute now. On Thursday the Sejm Legislative Committee came out in favour of amending the electoral law by replacing the to-date D'Hondt method with a modified St. Lague method that favour groupings with small public support. Sejm Speaker Wodzimierz Cimoszewicz announced he would not agree for changes in the electoral law to be put to vote in the Sejm. "I am categorically against changing electoral rules before elections," he said. Explaining his decision not to contest the forthcoming presidential elections, Cimoszewicz said that a precondition for his running was "lack of rivalry on the left-wing." "When I learned there will be more than one candidate of the left wing, I decided it made no sense," he said.

Warsaw, May 20: The Sejm on Friday passed a law on public finances that is to improve public finances system's openness and transparency and introduce more effective management instruments. 282 MPs voted for the adoption of the law, 116 was against and 3 abstained. The law introduces the so called income accounts on which budget units will amass up to 30 percent of revenues on their operations. The means will be included in the budget but will remain at the disposal of the management of a given unit. The law has been strongly opposed by the opposition that claimed that it will not improve the transparency of the system of public finances. With a cliff-hanger two votes the Sejm adopted an amendment according to which units of public finances sector cannot buy shares or stokes in companies or purchase bonds other than those issued by the state treasury and local government units. The law takes effect on January 1, 2006.

Warsaw, May 20: The Sejm on Friday morning passed a draft designed to introduce competition procedures for the appointment of heads of central offices and state agencies. There were 280 votes for, 120 against and two abstentions. The Citizens' Platform, Law and Justice and League of Polish Families were against the draft. The caucuses of the Democratic Left Alliance, Polish Peasant Party, Social Democracy of Poland and Samoobrona voted for. Under the government-authored bill heads of 34 state agencies, central offices and funds will be appointed by competition. The draft is planned to come into force on September 1, 2005. The law covers such institutions as for instance the Agriculture Modernisation and Restructuring Agency, ZUS social insurance institution, Chief Sanitary Inspector, etc. So far heads of these bodies have been appointed by the PM. Now the bill will be sent to the Senate.

Wroclaw, May 20: Opening the second day of the European Summit of Regions and Towns in Wroclaw, Prime Minister Marek Belka said that the meeting was a symbol of the new unity of Europe which "begins to breathe with two lungs, the west and the east one. "Belka stressed that the European Union faced two big problems - ratification of the Constitutional Treaty and new financial perspective for 2007-2013. "We are looking with hope on the ratification process, on referendums and their outcomes in subsequent countries. We keep our fingers crossed for our French friends. We want them to accept the Treaty," the prime minister said. In France the EU constitution referendum is scheduled to be held on May 29. Belka said that for European local government workers, the Constitution was the first big document that recognizes the role of local authorities, power decentralisation. Local government workers, more than any other group, should support efforts for efficient ratification of the Treaty, the PM added. Belka said that the EU financial perspective for 2007-2013 was a key issue for Poland and new member states. He admitted that it represented a chance for decentralisation of public finances and consolidation of the role of local governments. The European Commission has asked for a budget of 1.14 percent of EU GNI between 2007-2013, but six member states want to cap the EU's expenditures to 1 percent GNI.

Warsaw, May 20: Denying two Polish members of the European Parliament MEPs entry to Cuba and the apprehension of two Polish journalists is totally inadmissible and constitutes a blatant violation of international law, reads a statement issued Friday by spokesman for the foreign ministry Aleksander Checko. Checko said that director of the ministry's department of America Henryk Szlajfer summoned Cuba's Ambassador to Poland Jorge Fernando Lefebre Nicolas to present him with the Polish stand on the issue. According to the Polish foreign ministry the attitude of Cuban authorities is incompatible with the Charter of the U.N., the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the resolution of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights regarding the observance of human rights in Cuba. The statement issued by the foreign ministry reads that the Polish government does not intent to tolerate this type of steps toward Polish citizens and demands from Cuban authorities to guarantee that the journalists are taken care of and that their safety is ensured according to international standards. Two Polish journalists Jerzy Jurecki of Tygodnik Podhalanski weekly and Seweryn Blumsztajn, the editor-in-chief of the Cracow branch of Gazeta Wyborcza daily were apprehended on Thursday night. They arrived in Cuba to take part in a congress of Cuban opposition. Earlier two Polish MEPS Boguslaw Sonik and Jacek Protasiewicz, who also arrived in Cuba with the same purpose were denied entry. The ministry reported that according to findings of a Polish consul in Havana the Polish citizens were apprehended in a hotel and since then have probably been kept at the airport waiting for a return flight. Foreign Minister Adam Rotfeld said Friday morning that he would undertake diplomatic steps to free Polish journalists and that the attitude of Cuban authorities will be subject to talks within the EU.

Warsaw, May 20: Interior minister Ryszard Kalisz announced Friday that he will recall the managements of the police's Central Intelligence Office (CBS) in Lodz and Poznan after the

disappearance of large quantities of heroin and cocaine from a police depot in Lodz and information trading charges against officers in Poznan. Such drastic steps are necessary for the police's own sake and that of public safety, Kalisz told reporters in Warsaw. Marek Hebda, deputy chief of the Polish police, said today that both police managements will be officially dissolved.

Warsaw, may 22: The Ordynacka association plans to collect signatures under an appeal to Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz calling on him to change his decision regarding his running in the presidential elections. Cimoszewicz last week said he would withdraw from political life after the present term of parliament. Head of the association Marek Siwiec said during the 3rd extraordinary congress of Ordynacka on Saturday that there is no other candidate "whom we could support so unanimously." He added that the action of collecting signatures will last for some 2 to 3 weeks. He counts on hundreds of thousand of signatures which could convince Cimoszewicz to change his mind.Deputy head of the association Wlodzimierz Czarzasty said that Ordynacka will not take part in general elections nor sign any electoral agreements with parties. However, Siwiec taking part in a press conference stressed that "Ordynacka will grant assistance and backing" for some 30 members of the association who plan take part in the September general elections. The association does plan to get involved in a campaign promoting the European Constitutional Treaty.

Warsaw, May 22: The leadership of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) will resign during the party's national convention on May 29. The SLD is considering Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski as its candidate to run in the presidential elections. "I proposed that the top leadership resign in order to ensure unity and efficiency of the management of the party," SLD leader Jozef Oleksy said on Saturday. In addition to Oleksy, six other SLD leaders submitted their resignations. SLD's convention is due to elect a new leadership and adopt the party's electoral platform. On June 11 the party will hold a presidential convention to promote its candidate for president. The SLD National Council called on the party's members and sympathisers to start consultations on the candidacy of Szmajdzinski who for his part approved to plans but refused to contest the elections for SLD leader.

Bialystok, May 23: The decision taken by the leadership of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) to resign has been right but taken too late, Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said Monday. On Saturday, May 21, the SLD leadership decided to resign. New party authorities will be elected during the party's national convention on May 29. On June 11 the party will hold a presidential convention to promote its candidate for president. "The renewal on the left will surely take place and it is only a matter of time. But I do not know if takes months or years," Cimoszewicz told Radio Bialystok. Asked about his decision not to run for president he said that it was caused mainly by personal motifs. On May 18 Cimoszewicz announced his decision after a meeting with President Aleksander Kwasniewski. He said he intended to withdraw from politics after the present term of the Sejm ends.

Vilnius, May 20: Lithuanians think highly of their relations with Poland considering them the best relationship of all other neighbour states. Lithuanian-Polish relations are considered positive by 68 percent of respondents, according to a survey carried out by the RAIT market analysis and research group and published by the Lietuvos Zinios daily on Friday. Only one percent of Lithuanians think the relations with Poles are bad, while 4 percent consider them deteriorating. The poll also said that currently Lithuania is on the worst terms with Russia.

Warsaw, May 23: Former president Lech Walesa said Monday he was satisfied after a televised debate with general Wojciech Jaruzelski on Sunday night. Walesa added he supported the idea to establish a reconciliation commission at the National Remembrance Institute (IPN). During the debate Jaruzelski stressed that he had never initiated any moves against Walesa and that he had never considered him a collaborator of former communist authorities. Leader of the Democrats.pl party Wladyslaw Frasyniuk said Monday it was "humiliating" that Walesa asked Jaruzelski to confirm he had never collaborated with former communist authorities.

Warsaw, May 20: Twenty five percent of Poles believe that the situation in Poland is improving while 59 percent voice the opposite opinion, a recent CBOS poll has shown. Sixty eight percent describe the political situation as bad, 21 percent as neither good not bad and only 3 percent as good. Forty seven percent of the polled negatively asses the economic situation, 34 percent say it is neither good not bad and 12 percent say it is good. The majority of Poles (52 percent) believe the situation will not change during the next 12 months, 20 percent think it will deteriorate and 17 percent hope it will improve. CBOS conducted the poll on a representative sample of 1,052 adult Poles on May 6-9.

Bialystok, May 22: Law and Justice (PiS) candidate for president Lech Kaczynski said that a PiS - League of Polish Families (LPR) pre-election agreement is impossible. Kaczynski explained that LPR treats PiS "as the key adversary on the entire political scene". Kaczynski when asked confirmed that the situation on the right side of the political scene is clear before the forthcoming general and presidential elections. The only open question remains to be the level of support for the Patriotic Movement led by Antoni Macierewicz.

Warsaw, May 22: Leader of the League of Polish Families (LPR) Roman Giertych plans to travel to Belarus where he is to meet with the new board of the Union of Poles in Belarus (ZPB) elected at a March congress invalidated by Belarussian authorities. Giertych told reporters on Sunday that as head of the Sejm Committee for Poles Living Abroad he has "the duty to make such a gesture." The LPR deputy thinks that the situation around ZPB has become "hot" and his presence there is a must. According to Giertych ZPB's seat in Grodno is in practice occupied, surrounded by Belarussian secret service agents while ZPB activists are afraid that the seat will be raided by militia. This demands immediate action, the deputy stressed. However, for the time being Giertych did not receive a diplomatic passport for the planned journey. Deputy Sejm Speaker Tomasz Nalecz, responsible on behalf of the Sejm Speaker for MPs' foreign trips, said that this is a difficult issue and Giertych will have to wait for the decision of the Sejm presidium.

Wroclaw, May 22: Donald Tusk, head of the Citizens Platform (PO) has said his party wants to put head of the national TV and Radio Council (KRRiT) Danuta Waniek before the Tribunal of State. Tusk argued that Waniek "has proved that the interest of the Democratic Left Alliance, that party interests in the media is more important to her than clearly spelled out constitutional provisions and entries of the law on KRRiT. She broke the law..." Tusk stressed. He was referring to a resolutions passed by the KRRiT on Friday stating the expiration of a mandate of one of the members of the Supervisory Board of public Polish Television. PO's initiative has been backed by the Law and Justice.

Lublin, May 22: Citizen's Platform (PO) deputy leader Zyta Gilowska has resigned her membership in the party in reaction to nepotism charges and the party's leaders decision for her case to be arbitrated by a party court. Her son, Pawel, remains PO member and will be running in the forthcoming general elections. Gilowska accused PO leaders of an intention to organise a "show trial." Pawel Gilowski told PAP he would not give up his Citizen's Platform membership nor plans to run in the September general elections. Early in May the media revealed that Pawel Gilowski was elected by the Lublin PO authorities to be a leader on the constituancy's list of Sejm candidates. Soon after the media said that Gilowska employed daughter-in-law in her parliamentary bureau and paid her son from her parliamentary remuneration for expert opinions. PO leader Donald Tusk told a press conference on Sunday that Zyta Gilowska had made a mistake but failed to admit it. He emphasised that there would be no tolerance in the PO and the public life for any departures from the principle of disinterestedness. Stressing that the PO is aiming at winning the general elections, Tusk said that this victory would be marked by the revival of public life and by setting possibly the highest standards in public life. He added that Gilowska was his closest associate in politics and that her decision to leave was a very difficult moment to him.

Warsaw, May 20: April's industrial production fell 1.0 per cent year-on-year, after a 3.7 per cent fall in March, and fell 0.3 per cent month-on-month, the Central Statistical Office (GUS) said Friday. Economists expected industrial production to fall 5.25 per cent year-on-year with forecasts ranging from 2-15 per cent. Seasonally-adjusted industrial production fell 1.5 per cent year-on-year and grew 2.3 per cent month-on-month April's industrial production prices rose 0.8 per cent year-on-year, after a 2.2 per cent growth in March. Compared to March prices grew 0.6 per cent, the Central Statistical Office (GUS) said Friday. The market expected production prices to grow 0.6 per cent year-on-year with forecasts ranging from 0.0 per cent to 1.0 per cent.

Warsaw, May 20: Poland placed 32nd, four places up, on the ranking list of readiness for conducting e-business services. In a report "e-readiness 2005" worked out jointly by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) i IBM Institute for Business Value presented on the Internet Biznes Net site the first place went to Denmark followed by the U.S. The report was based on some 100 quality and quantity criteria on the communications and infrastructure functioning, adaptation to new services by their users and providers and well as legal regulations. A country's "e-readiness" is a measure of its e-business environment, a collection of factors that indicate how amenable a market is to Internet-based opportunities.

London, May 20: Goodacres, British carpeting producer from Kendal in north-western England will shift most of its production in a move to Poland to reduce costs. Goodacres director Mike Cornish was quoted by BBC on Friday as saying that strongly competitive market forced the company to reduce cost and that Poland had cheap labour force.

Warsaw, May 23: The government tries to obtain additional money for the construction and modernisation of fishing boats. Brussels does not want to agree as the EU's top priority is the protection of fish, writes Glos Szczecinski daily. EU Commissioner for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Joe Borg, who has recently paid a visit to Poland, has stated that in the future the EU assistance should be assigned for the modernisation of existing boats, improving shipowners' safety and ensuring business operations for young fishermen. EU funds cannot be assigned for increasing fishing capacity.

Nancy, May 19: President Aleksander Kwasniewski on Thursday expressed concern about recent developments in Belarus in connection with the expulsion of a Polish diplomat from that country. The Polish president, in Nancy for a Weimar triangle summit, appealed to the European Union for help in protecting the Polish minority in that country. Kwasniewski, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder met to discuss the European Union, the EU Constitutional Treaty and the EU eastern policy as well as questions related to Ukraine. The three politicians called on French citizens and all EU countries to accept the European Union Constitutional Treaty as a frame for the functioning of the enlarged EU. Kwasniewski recalled that the ratification of the treaty is backed by majority of Poles who see the document as a "French fruit" and expect the French to say "yes" in the May 29 referendum. The three leaders also appealed, without going into details, for a speedy agreement within the EU on the 2007-2013 budget. Kwasniewski stressed that Poland is keen on linking the principle of solidarity with budget discipline. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder speaking in favour of close cooperation between the EU and Russia at the same time tried to dispel Polish concerns regarding closer ties with the eastern neighbour. "No one, especially those in NATO or the EU, should not even think that the controversial evil past could repeat itself," Schroeder said referring to the 1939-1941 German-Russian cooperation.

Warsaw, May 19: Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Zalucki said in the Sejm Thursday that the Belarussian authorities "use inadmissible methods to eliminate from public life institutions

which preserve independence." In his opinion such actions violate minority and human rights. Zalucki presented information about the Polish authorities' moves in reply to the actions of the Belarussian authorities against the local Union of Poles. Zalucki said that Poland agrees actions towards Belaraus with Ukraine and Lithuania, as well as problems connected with setting up an independent radio station. According to him it is necessary to get the European Union engaged in Belarussian affairs, including involvement of the Union in restrictive measures against Lukashenka regime. The minister thinks that Poland cannot allow itself to "stop" contacts with Belarus because of the big Polish community there and the fact that the two countries have common border. Also necessary are contacts between customs officers of Poland and Belarus and ministries responsible for security and fighting terrorism.

Minsk, May 19: The expulsion of a Polish diplomat and the situation in the Union of Poles in Belarus has featured widely in the Belarussian media in recent days. The state media present the position of the Belarussian authorities while the opposition press presents the arguments of the Polish side and cites statements of the authorities of the Union of Poles. The state television presented counselor of Poland's embassy Marek Bucko as an initiator of the reshuffle in the authorities in the Union of Poles in Belarus during what it considered to be an illegal congress of the organisation. It claimed that Bucko was receiving funds from foreign sponsors in order to bribe electors and was the mastermind behind scandals in the Union. The TV also said that "certain forces in Belarus and abroad want to use this potential in order to destabilise the situation in Belarus and is playing a nationalist card according to a Yugoslav scenario." Belarussian TV claims that Bucko openly encouraged opposition against Russians.

Warsaw, May 20: President Aleksander Kwasniewski said Friday that an EU Constitution referendum should be held in Poland irrespective of results of such referenda in other EU countries and that it could be held together with the first round of presidential elections on October 9, 2005. EU countries should voice their opinion on the EU Constitution, even if one or another country says "no". Poland has signed the Constitutional Treaty and it must be ratified, either by parliament or by a given nation in a referendum, the president told Radio One. The Polish president expressed the conviction that the French would support the EU Constitution on May 29. But even if they did not, it would be improper to say that Poles do not have to say anything. (...) We have to answer this question, the president stressed. Asked about the date, the president said it could be held together with the first round of presidential elections. The date of the referendum must be decided by the Sejm or by the president with the approval of the Senate.

Lodz, May 19: Sejm speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz will decide whom to back in the autumn presidential election in September. Cimoszewicz's announcement came in response to a Wednesday statement by Social-Democracy for Poland (SdPl) leader Marek Borowski, who said he hoped for the Sejm speaker's support in the ballot. Asked about possible political motives for separating the parliamentary and presidential elections, Cimoszewicz assured the

idea to hold the ballots separately was organizational and had no political motives.

Warsaw, May 19: The Democratic Left Alliance SLD will not support Marek Borowski in presidential elections but will field its own candidate, SLD secretary general Marek Dyduch told Radio One on Thursday. Dyduch termed Borowski a "double traitor." Firstly because a year ago when Borowski was leaving the SLD presenting totally different reasons behind his decision that the running for presidency whereas later it turned out that this was his chief reason. Secondly because he did not want to enter negotiations with the SLD on joint electoral lists for the Sejm and the Senate and field a single candidate for presidency that the latter party had been proposing for a few months. He added that the SLD would present its own candidate and would support him/her until the end of the elections. Defence minister and deputy leader of the SLD Jerzy Szmajdzinski said that SLD's presidential candidate would be elected by party's convention. He stressed that the candidate should be supported not only by the SLD but also by associations, organisations, trade unions that cooperate with the party and by left wing sympathisers. An opinion of the president will also be taken into account. Sejm Speaker Wodzimierz Cimoszewicz said on Wednesday that he would not contest this year's presidential elections. Other left-wing politician, leader of the Social-democracy of Poland Marek Borowski reiterated his plans to run in the October election.

Poznan, May 19: Head of the Social Democracy of Poland SdPl Marek Borowski on Thursday said he would like to have Lech Kaczynski (Law and Justice PiS leader) as rival in the 2nd round of presidential elections. He added he is waiting for Kaczynski's reply to his appeal to hold a debate on programmes he proposed on May 5. Referring to SLD secretary general Marek Dyduch's interview for Radio One in which Borowski was called "a double liar" the SdPl leader said "this is the language of the past epoch unsuitable for serious politicians." He also said a possible talk on SLD support for him should be held in the climate of mutual respect.

Nancy, May 19: Poland expects that Russia will hand over the whole of documents concerning the Katyn crime, President Aleksander Kwasniewski said on Thursday. The president asked in Nancy where he took part in the Weimar Triangle summit whether Poland plans to bring the Katyn crime before the Tribunal in Hague said that in view of lapse of time the issue has a symbolic rather than purely legal character. "Its understandable that we are not speaking about direct perpetrators or participants in that crime," said Kwasniewski.In the spring of 1940 NKVD officers killed thousands of Polish officers following Russia's September 17, 1939 invasion of Poland.

Warsaw, May 19: Poland and Ukraine have reached accord over an inscription on a commemorative plaque in a Polish cemetery in Lvov, Andrzej Przewoznik, secretary of the Council for the Protection of Monuments to Struggle and Martyrdom, said Thursday in Warsaw.The agreed inscription will read: "Here lies a Polish soldier fallen for his Motherland". The cemetery houses graves of Poles fallen in 1918-1919 during battles with Ukrainians and the 1920 Polish-Soviet war.

Warsaw, May 18: Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said that the Sejm will deal with the election of a new head of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) if the institute manages to present its candidate by the end of July, if not the issue will be dealt with by the new Sejm. The present head Leon Kieres and his contender Leszek Buller failed to receive the Institute college's support.

Warsaw, May 19: Deputy Defence Minister Janusz Zemke said Thursday Poland is negotiating with Israel the purchase of systems protecting military patrols from remote-controlled bomb attacks. The systems jam radio signals around convoys protecting them from

possible attacks, Zemke said adding that the ministry plans to buy several such system for Polish soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski confirmed plans limiting the number of Polish soldiers stationed in Iraq. The present, forth, rotation of soldiers counts 1,700 people.

Divaniyah, May 19: Two members of a Polish military convoy were hurt Thursday in a mine explosion about 50 kilometres north of the city of Al-Hillah in south-central Iraq. One of the men suffered face wounds, the other hand injuries. Both soldiers were transported for treatment to a field hospital in Karbala. According to military sourc es the attacked convoy was underway from Baghdad to Al-Hillah.

Warsaw, May 19: 659 million euros in direct payments for farmers allocated to Poland by the European Commission for 2004 will be fully used, agriculture minister Wojciech Olejniczak told the Sejm on Thursday. He added that to-date Poland received 632 million euros with the remainder to come by the end of the year. The minister said that 1.385 million farmers lodged applications for 6 billion 323 million zlotys in subsidies to land and 1 billion 141 million zlotys in subsidies to unfavourable conditions for farming. In total direct payments together with subsidies to starch and tobacco production will be 7.7 billion zlotys. Polish budget contributed over 3 billion zlotys to direct payments.

Cracow, May 19: We should do everything in our power to change this first year of Poland's membership of the EU in the lasting tendency of strong civilisational progress, EU commissioner for regional policy Danuta Huebner said Thursday. Addressing the international conference on prospects for business after 12 months in the EU Huebner said that Polish decision-makers should undertake actions aimed at permanently including Polish interests in the interests and needs of Europe. We should think very hard how to invest this 4 percent of Poland's national income which we will get after 2006 as part of structural funds, she said. This is a huge amount of money for investments, she said.

Cracow, May 19: According to governor of the National Bank of Poland NBP Leszek Balcerowicz Poland should improve the condition of public finances, continue privatisation, free the market and strengthen state's institutions to achieve fast economic growth and curbing unemployment. During the conference on prospects for business after 12 months of Poland's membership of the EU Balcerowicz stressed that every strategy aimed at ensuring Poland fast and systematic development should include Poland's integration with the euro zone. Its all about meeting the basic criteria of the Maastricht treaty, he explained. The sooner we meet all of them the better for us as we will get additional benefits estimated by the NBP at 0.4 percent of additional economic growth each year, Balcerowicz said.

Warsaw, May 19: Some three thousand unionists of the All-Poland Alliance of Trade Union OPZZ marched through Warsaw centre demanding pay growth, the growth of the minimum wage and early retirement for people employed in hazardous conditions. A group of OPZZ representatives met with PM Marek Belka to discuss employees' rights and minimum wage, earlier retirement and compensation laws. Speaking to the press after the meeting, deputy PM Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka said the PM agreed with unionists that employees' rights and the labour code should be better observed in Poland. She added that the government is working on a new law which would include a mechanism gradually increasing wages. Raising employment and not wages should be the top priority in Poland, members of the Lewiatan Polish Confederation of Private Employers (PKPP) said Thursday commenting the picket for higher wages by the OPZZ.

Warsaw, May 19: Prime Minister Marek Belka and Culture Minister Waldemar Dabrowski inaugurated here Thursday the 50th jubilee International Book Fair. The fair attracted 580 editors from 30 countries who present their offer at the area of 10,600 square meters. The fair will be open to public between Friday and Sunday with Thursday being reserved for meetings between representatives of publishing houses.

Warsaw, May 19: Vera Michalska-Hoffman of Switzerland is the laureate of the Polish Culture Foundation award "For the Promotion of Polish Book in The World". The ceremony of presenting the prize will take place during the International Boook Fair in Warsaw on Friday. Swiss-born Vera Michalska-Hoffman together with her Polish husband Jan Michalski established Editions Noir sur Blanc in the Swiss town Montricher in 1986. Their main aim was to make literature from Eastern Europe, chiefly Polish and Russian familiar to French-speaking readers in Western Europe and so far they have published about 150 titles.

Warsaw, May 19: Poland joined the European agreement on the abolition of visas for refugees the foreign ministry reported on Thursday. Foreigners living permanently in Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Spain, Ireland, Iceland, Holland, Malta, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Germany, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland, Sweden, and Italy do not need as of May 21, 2005 Polish visas to enter Poland provided that they have a valid travel document for refugees. Besides, their stay in Poland should not exceed three months. The decision was made on the basis of reciprocity.

Warsaw, May 19: Ngawang Sangdrol, one of famous political prisoners of conscience told newsmen in the Sejm Thursday that she had come to Poland "to tell the truth about what really goes on in Tibet." She said persecution of the Tibetan people and devastation of the Tibetan culture do not belong to the past, as some people think, but continue to this day. The 28-year old Tibetan Buhhdist nun came to Poland at the invitation of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights.

Warsaw, May 19: Privatisation revenues are expected to meet this year's target thanks to higher revenues from dividends, state treasury minister Jacek Socha said. "Instead of the planned 500 million zlotys, we will get around 2 billion zlotys from dividends," he added. Total privatisation revenues reached 815.8 million zlotys on May 12, 2005, or 14.39 percent of the annual plan.

Warsaw, May 19: First quarter net financial result of firms went down to 10.9 bn zlotys from 13.4 bn zlotys in the same period of 2004, the Central Statistical Office (GUS) said Thursday.The gross financial result fell to 15.1 billion zlotys from 17.0 in 2004. Net profit was reported by 57.7 per cent of companies. Their share in total revenue went down to 75.4 per cent. 61.8 per cent of companies of the processing industry posted net profits, their revenue share in the branch closed at 79.1 per cent.

Warsaw, May 19: Poland's Orbis tourist enterprise plans to keep its leading position in central-east Europe and will continue to use the Orbis trademark, Orbis CEO Jean-Philippe Savoye said on Thursday. The statement came in response to charges by the company's trade unions that the current management was planning to abandon the Orbis trademark. Orbis' main shareholder is the French Accor Group, which own a 35.6-percent stake in the company.

Pyrzowice, May 19: One in 2 Poles will fly cheap airlines in 3-5 years, Jozsef Varadi, CEO of the WizzAir cheap air carrier said in Katowice's Pyrzowice Airport Thursday. Varadi said the airline has processed 1.2 million passengers, including 700,000 Poles since its opening a year ago. We want to double our passenger pool next year and we seem well ahead in achieving this goal, Varadi said. WizzAir controls 40 percent of the Polish cheap flight market. The airline flies to Katowice, Warsaw and Gdansk.

Warsaw, May 24: President Aleksander Kwasniewski appointed on Tuesday Tomasz Podgajniak new Natural Environment Minister. Former Environment Minister Jerzy Swaton was recalled from the post in late April. Podgajniak was earlier deputy Environment Minister.

Warsaw, May 23: Presidential elections will be held on October 9, Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz officially announced on Monday. The second round, if necessary, will be held on October 23. The Sejm Speaker's decision has to be published in the Journal of Laws by Thursday. The publication will officially mark the beginning of the electoral campaign. To-date four candidates declared willingness to run in the presidential elections: Citizen's Platform leader Donald Tusk, Warsaw mayor Lech Kaczynski (Law and Justice), Andrzej Lepper (Self-defence) and Marek Borowski (Social-Democracy of the Republic of Poland). Later on Monday, President Aleksander Kwasniewski officially announced the date of elections to the Polish Sejm and Senate to be held on Sunday, September 25.

Warsaw, May 23: Interior minister Ryszard Kalisz Monday handed in his resignation in connection with media reports that officers at the National Police HQ were cooperating with the criminal underworld. Today's Gazeta Wyborcza daily quoted rumours that senior police officers were involved in passing stolen goods. Kalisz assured that he was ready to resign if the story proved true. The National Police HQ and the interior ministry have denied the charges, stating that "99 percent of what Gazeta Wyborcza wrote" was untrue. Only one minor fact was true, the rest is (...) taken from nowhere", said deputy interior minister Andrzej Brachmanski. PM Marek Belka today at a meeting with higher interior ministry officials voiced "highest concern" over the charges and ordained investigations into the matter. Belka added that he would announce his decisions concerning personal reshuffles in the interior ministry within the next 2 days.

Brussels, May 23: Poland, Germany, Slovakia, Lithuania and Latvia signed in Brussels on Monday an agreement on the formation of a quick reaction combat unit that will be ready for operations in the 1st half of 2010. It will be one of EU's 13 European combat groups used for preserving and restoring peace, granting humanitarian and rescue assistance and preventing conflicts in different parts of the world. "The signing of the letter of intent closes the 1st stage in negotiations on forming the joint combat group and paves the way to the signing of a general agreement in 2005. The formation of combat groups, meant as the core of EU response is a priority for Poland," Defence Minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski said after signing the letter. Combat groups will number some 1500 soldiers each and will be ready for action 10 days after a political decision is made. They will operate on a rotation basis. Poland will play the role of the so called framework state or, will lead the group in the first six years of 2010. As the framework state Poland is responsible for the organisation of commanding officers, the combat element and selecting 50 pct of the group. The cost of combat groups will be covered by countries forming a given group whereas the framework state will be responsible for planning and logistics.

Brussels, May 23: Defence Minister and one of the leaders of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) Jerzy Szmajdzinski said Monday that if he decided to run for president he would do this with the determination to win the best possible result, but stressed the significance of the "fair play" rule. Szmajdzinski said that he had discussed his plans with president Aleksander Kwasniewski who last week described the minister as "a serious candidate with significant achievements and experience". Szmajdzinski said his candidature had been discussed by SLD's National Council last Saturday and added that on June 11 the party would hold a presidential convention to promote its candidate for president. Szmajdzinski added that the parliamentary elections might have some influence on the result of the presidential elections which would be held two weeks later.

Warsaw, May 23: The location in Poland of the EU external border protection agency was one of the interior ministry's biggest successes last year, Interior Minister Ryszard Kalisz said. Kalisz told a press conference on Monday that the agency would be the "most important element in EU member states external border management," and its location in Poland was the sing of "confidence" in Poland Kalisz reported that Poles' sense of security rose 13 percent to 46 percent this year, from 33 percent in March 2004. He said that that the numbers of burglaries, mugging, thefts and scuffles are decreasing in Poland. "In 2004 324 leaders of criminal groups were identified, 179 criminal groups were broken up, including 153 Polish and 23 international groups," he said.

Warsaw, May 22: Marek Dyduch, secretary of the ruling Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), may decide to run for the party chair after the SLD leadership's resignation at a Saturday sitting of the SLD National Council. I'm not saying no. At the moment I'm abroad but when I get back I'll announce my decision, Dyduch told PAP. Current SLD leader Jozef Oleksy has announced he will not run for reelection. Other leader candidates include defence minister Jerzy Szmajdzinski and former justice minister Grzegorz Kurczuk andf agriculture minister Wojciech Olejniczak.

Radom, Warsaw, May 23: No representative of the Social Democracy of Poland SdPl will take part in a Tuesday meeting with the Democratic Left Alliance SLD after the SLD leadership has resigned, SdPl leader Marek Borowski told a news conference in Radom on Monday. "This is pointless. We were to talk about the Senate, about possible joint candidates not necessarily affiliated with either party. The present situation in the SLD prompts us to postpone the meeting because talks should be held at the leaders' level," Borowski said. SLD leaders resigned their functions on Saturday. They will stay at their posts, though, until May 29 when the part convention will pick up new leaders. According to SLD secretary general Marek Dyduch, who also stepped down, Borowski's refusal to attend the meeting makes the meeting pointless. During Tuesday talks left-wing politicians were to agree on joint candidates for the Senate.

Lublin, May 23: Zyta Gilowska, ex-deputy leader of the centrist Citizens Platform (PO) who resigned her post and party membership Saturday in the wake of nepotism charges, declared today that she had "broken no ethic codes" nor committed any "errors", and that the accusations against her showed that the PO leadership "had in fact wanted to oust her". Earlier this month the Polish media reported that Gilowska's son was at the head of an MP election list in Lublin and her daughter-in-law on the staff of her MP office. Gilowska resigned her party post and left PO after nepotism charges against her were filed to the PO arbitration court. Gilowska, who denies the charges, assured she had not helped her son run for parliament. She also said her daughter-in-law had not been a family member when she began working for her and had been transferred from her office shortly after marrying her son. It is not true that I turned the Lublin PO branch into a "private manor" (...), nor have I broken any ethical codes, so I don't see why I should admit to "errors" or "sins", Gilowska said today. PO leader Donald Tusk, who refused to comment Gilowska's statement "for her own good", said the charges against her and her ensuing resignation were "Poland's to-date most serious example of drawing full consequences against political leaders who commit errors". All I can say - and I'm sure many will share this view - is that today we must do our utmost to raise the moral level of Polish political life, Tusk declared

Warsaw, May 23: Medals and diplomas of the Righteous Among the Nations of the World were handed Monday to the people who risked their lives to save Jews during World War Two. Present at the ceremony at Warsaw's Townhall were the people granted the distinctions by Yad Vashem, their families as well as a Jew from the U.S. who survived the Holocaust at a Polish farm. "I am glad that we can still find people who during the war saved Jews from the Holocaust," Warsaw president Lech Kaczynski said. Israeli Ambassador to Poland David Peleg paid homage to 6,000 Poles who had received the Righteous Among the Nations medals. Yad Vashem in 1963 embarked upon a worldwide project to grant the title of Righteous Among the Nations to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. As of

Olsztyn, May 23: International police data bases and efficient flow of information are considered the basic ways to fight human trafficking, according to the participants of a three-day seminar held at Szczytno, north-east Poland, with the participation of policemen, prosecutors and representatives of social organisations from Poland and Germany. The participants of workshops and simulations learn about various practical aspects of fighting organised groups dealing with woman and child trafficking and that with human organs used in transplant surgery. Last year there were 50 incidents connected with human trafficking, concerning mainly women sent abroad and forced to prostitution, officer Zbigniew Bielecki taking part in the conference said Monday. The participants stressed that this figure does not reflect the scale of the problem because victims are often afraid to report to the police.

Bialystok, May 23: We demanded immediate and unconditional recognition of the newly-elected Union of Poles board, League of Polish Families (LPR) leader Roman Giertych said Monday evening after returning from Grodno in western Belarus, where he mediated in a conflict between the country's government and Polish minority. The discord arose after the Belarussian foreign ministry recently annulled the election of a new board of the country's Union of Poles, reinstating its former head. Last Tuesday Belarus also expelled Polish diplomat Marek Bucko on charges of inspiring the elections. Giertych who heads the Polish parliament's Committee for Ties to Poles Abroad, said the Committee would to move for a parliamentary resolution calling on the Belarussian authorities to recognize the Polish Union's new leaders. A draft of this resolution will be discussed in the Committee on June 2, Giertych said. In Grodno Giertych met Andzelika Borys, the newly-elected Union of Poles head.

Warsaw, May 23: Sejm deputy Speaker Tomasz Nalecz thinks that Poles should no be rushed to the referendum on the EU Constitutional Treaty if the French reject it in their referendum. If the French "no" complicates the problem of the Treaty ratification it would be better to wait because a pressure would end up unfortunately, Nalecz maintains. He added that Poles should have an opportunity to decide about the Treaty in comfortable conditions, without demagogy.

President Aleksander Kwasniewski wants the referendum to be held in Poland on October 9, together with the first round of the presidential elections.

Warsaw, May 23: As many as 47 percent of Poles think that head of the National Remembrance Institute IPN Leon Kieres was not right to disclose the name of Father Konrad Hejmo as a secret collaborator of communist secret services, and 33 percent believe otherwise, according to a May poll run by CBOS. At the same time 46 percent of Poles are of the opinion that files kept in the IPN, documenting collaboration of some of the clergy with communist secret services should be revealed. However, the opinion is shared by fewer persons than last February when 56 percent wanted priests to be vetted. Head of the National Remembrance Institute IPN Leon Kieres last April disclosed the contents of the files that point to Father Hejmo as secret collaborator of the communist Poland security services in the 1980s. Hejmo, the Dominican Order priest in the Vatical City, denies Kieres statement. The poll was conducted between May 6 an 9, on a representative sample of adult Poles.

Warsaw, May 23: German Haering concern plans to open a centre training for Polish engineers and technicians. Company CEOs believe in the backwardness of Polish schools and universities as regards the practical training, writes Dziennik Lodzki daily.Jacek Galek, the Haering plant director, has said that Poles are trained on obsolete equipment from before 30-40 years. The company needs highly educated specialists in machining for its plant making precision elements for cars. Ryszard Mazerant, director of machining schools in Pitrokow Trybunalski has been unpleasantly surprised by the news. "We do not have the most modern equipment but our graduates are highly valued abroad," he assures. "If Haering gave us access to its equipment no centre would be needed," he said. The centre, to be opened by Haering, would organise free-of-charge two-year training courses for engineers and 3-3.5-year courses for technicians. The company would provide equipment and lecturers would come from Lodz University of Technology. The German concern will be short of specialists as after constructing its 2nd plant it plans to increase employment from 250 to some 700 workers. First talks with Lodz University of Technology have already taken place, the daily writes.

Warsaw, May 23: Poland received an approval from the Japanese market regulator to issue 200 billion yens in Samurai bonds over the next two years, Pawel Kowalewski of the finance ministry said. "Last week we received an approval of the issue from Kanto Local Bureau," Kowalewski said. "This is the limit. It does not mean that Poland will use it all," he added. The approval extends for 26 May 2005 until 25 May 2007.In 2004 Poland sold 50 billion yens worth of Samurai bonds.

Warsaw, May 23: The European Union plans to introduce a tax on air travels which may push the prices of return tickets by more than 300 PLN, writes Gazeta Pomorska daily. Means from the tax could be transferred to a fund supporting the development of the poorest world countries. The exact amount of the rise is still unknown but Brussels counts on gaining 6 bn euros annually, the paper adds. The final decision is to be made on June 7. Later EU member-states will individually decide whether to introduce it or not. Poland has so far failed to take a position on the issue.

Warsaw, May 21: Net profit of Kompania Piwowarska KP Brewery in the accounting year concluded on March 31 rose by 9 percent to 481 mn zlotys, company CEO Karl Lippert said. The company plans to spend 280 mn zlotys in the coming years to increase production capacity by 2.5 mn hectolitres. Lippert told journalists that revenues went up by 12 percent to 3.37 bn zlotys. "We earn some 75 percent of the entire profit of beer-producing branch in Poland," he explained. KP estimates it has dominated 35 percent of the Polish market. In 2004/2005 accounting year it sold 10.3 hectolitres of beer in Poland, up 12.6 percent on the previous year figure. Seventy two percent of shares in KP is held by SABMiller and 28 percent by Euro Agro Centrum, part of Kulczyk Holding.

Warsaw, May 24: Foreign firms that set up research and development centres in Poland are increasing employment. In some of them 700 and more Polish engineers will work this year, the Rzeczpospolita and more Polish engineers will work this year, the Rzeczpospolita daily said. Around 3,000 specialists are expected to find employment this year in some development centres owned mainly by world companies, and attracted to Poland by lower labour costs. There are around 20 development centres (including those of Intel, Motoraola, Siemens, Samsung, General Electric) operating in Poland that employ 1,800 specialists who work mainly on technologies and software for telecoms and Internet systems.

Warsaw, May 23: Barbara Hendricks, the celebrated soprano will appear in a single concert in Warsaw the coming Wednesday. This will be artist's fifth visit to Poland but the first during in

which she will present to the Polish audience her all-jazz repertoire. The event is part of this year's Era Jazzu concert cycle. Hendricks will perform pieces by the legendary Duke Ellington, Cole Porter and George Gershwin. The artist will be accompanied by Magnus Lindgren jazz quartet of Sweden, the organiser Dionizy Piatkowski told PAP. Hendricks sings jazz only a few times a year, so her Warsaw appearance will certainly be an exceptional musical event," Piatkowski stressed. Born in the USA, Barbara Hendricks first appeared in the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1986.

Warsaw, May 24: "Living the Quake," the BBC- and Channel 4- commissioned film, will be shot in the Silesians towns of Sosnowiec, Myslowice, Jaworzno, Bytom and Katowice this week. The film tells the story of the authentic people who survived an earthquake in San Francisco in 1906, the Dziennik Zachodni daily reported. The film has a strong cast that includes Maxwell Caulfield and Ian Duncan. "Living the Quake" will be filmed on location in the 19th century cement plant and a mine, with a team of 80 technicians, sound and lighting engineers, make-up persons taking part.

Cracow, May 25: Sejm speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said he would not allow changes in Poland's vote-counting method as suggested by the Polish parliament's legislative committee. The committee in a report on reforms in Polish election laws proposed the introduction of a modified variant of the St. Lague vote-counting method, which is more advantageous for smaller political parties. Cimoszewicz said in Cracow today that vote counting changes should not be made in the run up to an election. I was and will be against meddling with voting regulations shortly before an election. Something of the sort happened four years ago when Solidarity Election Action (AWS) and the Freedom Union actually changed the rules, which was crassly irregular. I will not allow this to happen again, Cimoszewicz said. Cimoszewicz also confirmed his earlier decision to withdraw from politics after the elections. I am not happy in the present situation where election rivalry between leftwingers (...) is an ever-bigger probability, he said.

Warsaw, May 25: Prime Minister Marek Belka dismissed Andrzej Brachmanski from the post of deputy Internal and Administration minister, government spokesman Dariusz Jadowski said. Brachmanski took over the post in February 2004 with the task to supervise uniformed services including police. His dismissal is associated with recently discovered scams in police forces e.g. the disappearance of 20 kilograms of cocaine and 25 kilograms of heroine from Lodz police storehouse and trading in information by Poznan police officers. According to mass media speculations his dismissal was also prompted by Brachmanski's conflict with officers of the Central Investigation Bureau. Interior Minister Ryszrad Kalisz said at a press conference that he personally will supervise the police as his resignation has not been accepted by the Prime Minister.

Warsaw, May 27: Eighty-two percent of Poles in a CBOS survey criticized the Polish parliament (5 pct up on April), only 6 percent praised parliament's work (5 pct down on April). Only 13 percent spoke positively about the Senate (4 pct down on April), while 61 percent were displeased with its work (1 pct up on April). 46 percent spoke favourably about president Aleksander Kwasniewski (unchanged from April), 40 percent criticized him (3 pct down on April). Sixty three percent of Aleksander Kwasniewski voters in the 2000 ballot which brought him to the presidency said they were content with the president's performance. ran the survey between May 6 and 9 on a random group of 1,052 adult Poles.

Warsaw, May 26: Nineteen percent of Poles (up one percentage point from April) declared in May their support for the Marek Belka government, a recent CBOS poll has shown. The number of those criticising the cabinet went down from April's 38 percent to 29 percent and the number of those with no opinion on the matter went up by 7 percentage points to 45 percent. Eighteen percent of the respondents are convinced that the cabinet economic policy might improve the situation in Poland while 62 percent voiced the opposite opinion. Twenty six percent were glad Marek Bleka was a prime minister (up 3 percentage points) and 45 percent were not (down by 8 percentage points). The poll was run on May 6-9 on a representative sample of 1,052 adult Poles.

Warsaw, May 26: We need moral rebirth, said Polish primate cardinal Jozef Glemp during Corpus Christi celebrations held in Warsaw on Thursday. He also called for the moral rebirth to be achieved in a spiritual way. "Is a moral revolution not necessary to get rid of all that is bad," the primate asked, naming such things as drunken driving, permissiveness on abortion and the spread of drug addiction. "The list of bad things is longer and includes terrorism, natural calamities, diseases that cannot be cured and various crimes, to name only some," he added. In his pastoral message delivered in the course of the Corpus Christi ceremonies Glemp also criticised inadequate funding for medicines for the sick and elderly while there was money for contraceptives. Referring to the process of vetting, Glemp noted that files kept by the National Remembrance Institute IPN could mean "shame and pain" for many people. He added that the vetting should be perceived in the context of "the evil structure" that forced some people to cooperate with secret police under communism. The primate wished that "compassion" spread in the Polish society where there was already "pain and suffering". The homily aroused an ovation from some 15,000 faithful gathered in front of the St. Anna church. The Eucharistic procession to four altars set up along the Royal Route in Warsaw led by the primate was preceded by a mass in the St.Cross basilica presided by the archbishop of Luxembourg Fernand Franck.The Corpus Christi ceremonies in Warsaw were attended by the city authorities, university rectors, the military, police, scouts, churchmen and lay sisters. The faithful in Cracow prayed for a prompt beatification of John Paul 2nd during a mass held in the city's main square after the Corpus Christi procession Thursday. The procession was led by cardinal Franciszek Macharski. The ceremonies attracted some 30,000 people. Cardinal Macharski said in his homily that "the death of Pope John Paul 2nd is a reminiscence now, but his presence in the House of the Father is an incessant call for the Divine Mercy, and the echo

of love reaches to us." Corpus Christi celebrations were held all over Poland on Thursday

Warsaw, May 25: Finland's Ilkka Laitinen, 43, was elected head of the European Union external border protection agency at its board meeting here on Wednesday attended by representatives of 25 EU states, deputy Interior Minister Pawel Dakowski told PAP Wednesday. Laitinen was head of the EU Risk Analysis Centre and a long time Finnish Border Guard member. He also worked as a counsellor at the EU. Warsaw was selected as the seat of the new EU border agency designed to boost the control of exterior borders of the 25-state bloc last April. According to Interior Minister Ryszard Kalisz, the location in Poland of the EU agency was one of the interior ministry's biggest successes last year. The agency would be the "most important element in EU member states external border management," and its location in Poland was the sing of "confidence" in Poland Kalisz said. According to Dakowski the agency should start its operations at the end of July.

Warsaw, May 25: Poland should take a stronger stand towards Russia's denial to recognise the 1940 mass killings of Polish officers and intelligentsia by the Red Army in Katyn as genocide, Poland's Katyn Committee announced Wednesday in response to recent comments on the issue by Russian military prosecutor Aleksandr Savenkov. On Tuesday Savenkov said the Katyn executions, in which about 22.5 thousand Polish officers, policemen, physicians, judges and clergymen lost their lives, had been nothing more than "a competency infringement on the part of several higher officials". The Russian military prosecutor's words are discrediting not only for the Russian judiciary but also for the country's highest authorities. Russia's denial that the Katyn atrocities were genocide and maintenance of Soviet lies about Yalta calls for a stronger stand by Poland, the Katyn Committee said in a statement

sent to PAP. Russian inquiries into the Katyn executions were dropped on September 21, 2004 after 14 years. No charges were filed, Russia also refused to classify the killings as genocide.

Warsaw, May 25: The expulsion from Poland of Imam Ahmed Ammar and the refusal to stage last year's Freedom Parade in Warsaw are among the most significant examples of human rights violations in Poland, Amnesty International said Wednesday in an annual report on human rights infringements. According to AI Warsaw president Lech Kaczynski's refusal to organize a Freedom Parade promoting sexual minority rights in the city in 2004 was an "infringement on the right to one's own identity". Regarding the expulsion from Poland of Yemenese Imam Ahmed Ammar on terrorism charges, AI pointed out that no grounds for the

decision had ever been provided. Ammar lived in Poland for 14 years before being expelled.AI also criticised Poland for leniency in home violence cases.

Washington, May 26: Polish Ambassador to the U.S. Przemyslaw Grudzinski has been presented with the Cultural Pluralism Award from the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad. The Cultural Pluralism Award is given for extraordinary contributions advancing the cause of Holocaust remembrance, ensuring historical truth, and promoting cultural preservation of sites related to the heritage of American citizens. Warren L. Miller, chairman of the Commission, who presented Grudzinski with the award, stressed the ambassador's role in concluding a Polish-U.S. agreement on protection of Jewish cultural sites in Poland signed in May 2004.

Warsaw, May 25: The Monetary Policy Council (RPP) left interest rates unchanged and maintained a neutral bias in the monetary policy at its meeting on Wednesday. The rate of 7-day interventions was left at 5.50 pct, the lombard rate at 7.0 pct, the rediscount rate at 6.0 percent, and the deposit rate at 4.00 pct. The Council, basing on available data and May projection, decided not to change the rates as it assessed that the risk balance for future inflation has not changed significantly. According to National Bank of Poland's central May projection inflation is to fall to 2.5 per cent in the 2nd quarter and to 1.75 per cent in the 3rd quarter. 4th quarter CPI is to near 2.5 per cent. In the latest PAP poll, 19 out of 20 economists did not expect the RPP to changes interest rates in May, with only one thinking otherwise. Next rotation of Polish soldiers in Iraq smaller Warsaw, May 25: The next, fifth, rotation of Polish military contingent will count 1,450 soldiers, over 200 less than the present shift, General Piotr Czerwinski, preparing to take over the command over the multinational Centre-south division, has told PAP. Czerwinski concluded a visit to Iraq on Tuesday. "Our key task

Warsaw, May 25: The National Bank of Poland expects a very changeable zloty exchange rate in the coming months due to domestic and external factors. The key factors expected to influence the exchange rate are campaigns before the fall parliamentary and presidential elections in Poland and the change of value of central European currencies, profitability of US T-bonds, EU 2007-2013 budget and risk of lack of ratification of the EU Constitutional Treaty, the bank wrote in a report published on Wednesday. The central bank also noted that a possible growth of deficit in the public finances sector in 2006 could lead to the moving away

London, May 27: Ninety one percent out of 700 tourists surveyed on TripAdvisor website believe that central European countries, Baltic republics, Russia and other post-communist countries are more interesting for them than western Europe's countries. Sixty eight percent have visited the 10 new EU countries or Russia and 52 percent are planning to do so. The most frequently visited cities include Cracow which was outdistanced only by Prague, Budapest and St. Petersburg. Among places which a western tourist should see is the former Nazi death camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau which placed fourth. As regards landscape views the tourists granted the second and third place to the Tatra Mountains and Wieliczka salt mine .

Warsaw, May 26: Investments will grow at a pace faster than 10 pc annually in the coming years, the central bank predicted Wednesday. Its deputy governor Krzysztof Rybinski quoted this figure at a meeting with reporters after the presentation of the latest inflation projection drafted by NBP. The projection predicts that the GDP will grow at just 4 pc this year, vs. 5.4 pc in 2004, but the rate will accelerate to 5-5.5 pc in the years 2006-2007. Inflation will be close to the NBP's target of 2.5 pc annually until 2007, NBP said in the document. It will decline to 2.5 pc already this quarter to reach a minimum of 1.75 pc in the third quarter year. Then it will start growing and reach 2.5 pc annually in the first quarter of 2007, the central bank said. It will remain at this level until the end of the year.

Warsaw, May 27: The state treasury ministry granted the exclusive negotiation rights for the purchase of 61 percent of shares in Polmos Bialystok to Sobieski Dystrybucja company, the ministry wrote in a statement. The exclusive negotiation rights have been granted for the period between May 30 and June 3. Shortlisted for the rights were Polmos Lublin, Sobieski Dystrybucja and Central European Distribution Corporation. In recent public offer private investors bought 1,445,000 shares and corporate investors purchased 2,380,000 shares in Polmos Bialystok. The ministry plans to earn on the sale more than 1 bn zlotys (309.5 mn USD.)

Warsaw, May 27: In the 1st quarter of this year Polish food exports rose 37 percent year on year, exports to the EU soaring almost 49 percent, according to Agriculture Minister Wojciech Olejniczak. Olejniczak noted that the Polish trade sector booked a positive foreign trade balance over the first 3 months of the year, food exports amounting to 1 billion and 417 million euros and imports to 1 billion and 196 million euros. The main importers of Polish food in the west are Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic and Britain. Most eastern exports go to Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

Warsaw, May 27: President Aleksander Kwasniewski lodged a bill with the Sejm that foresees the establishment of a "Solidarity" Cross, the presidential chancellery said. The cross

awarding committee will be headed by Lech Walesa. The president's legislative initiative is connected with the 25th anniversary of the birth of the Solidarity trade union, "the biggest freedom movement in Poland and in Europe," the presidential chancellery said in a communique. The cross will be awarded by the Solidarity Cross Committee headed by Soldarity movement's co-creator and the first leader Lech Walesa. The committee would be made up of "outstanding personages, that rendered great services to the formation and victory of the Solidarity movement." The Cross is to "honour and commemorate the personal effort of the people who bore witness to the faithfulness to the idea of independent Poland."

Bialowieza, May 29: President Aleksander Kwasniewski and his wife Jolanta spent the weekend in the Bialowieza Forest, invited by Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, known for his penchant for this natural reserve unspoilt by man. In his free time Cimoszewicz frequently travels to a forester's lodge near Hajnowka in Podlaskie province, located in the Bialowieza Forest. Kwasniewski declined to talk with reporters who saw him at the local natural museum Saturday. Bialowieza is widely known for its European bison reserve and research centre.

Warsaw, May 30: "It is with sorrow that I learned about the outcome of the French referendum on the European Union constitution. It undoubtedly reflects social moods in France, in particular as regards internal policy. I am convinced that France, a founder of the European Union, still backs European integration that serves safety, solidarity and development of our continent, " President Aleksander Kwasniewski said. The president went on to say that the French "No" meant serious problems for the procedure of the EU constitution adoption but should not halt integration processes and further EU enlargement. "Poland should make its own sovereign decision on the way and date of ratification of the EU constitution," he added. "Over the coming days I will carry out consultations with the government and parliamentary officials on this issue (ratification)," Kwasniewski said. Regretting France's rejection of the EU charter, commissioner for regional policy Danuta Huebner said that the EU constitution still existed with only its ratification likely to take more time now. "I am sad and disappointed. The outcome of the French referendum, is a gesture that divides Europe," she said.

Warsaw, May 30: Prime Minister Marek Belka said Monday that the EU Constitution ratification process should continue in other EU countries despite France's refusal to pass the treaty. About 55 percent of French voters opposed the constitution, the first rejection in Europe, during a referendum on Sunday. The decision taken by the French forces the EU to start a discussion on the current situation. Poland is ready to join it, Belka told reporters on Monday but stressed that France should initiate the first step. The Polish PM stressed Poland was supporting the continuation of European integration. Europe should not stop and cannot do such a thing, Belka said.

Warsaw, May 30: After France's rejection of the European Union constitution, Poland should halt the ratification procedure and not hurry with holding a referendum on the constitution which is "non-existent now," Citizien's Platform's leader Donald Tusk said. France's "no" to the EU constitution may mean a paralysis of further European integration, according to head of the Sejm committee for European Union Robert Smolen (Democratic Left Alliance). Despite France's decision Poland should hold a referendum on the European constitution, he added. France's rejection of the EU charter dealt a blow not only to the constitution itself but also to the European integration, said deputy Sejm Speaker Tomasz Nalecz (Social Democracy of Poland). He believes Poland should hold the EU referendum. France's "no" to the constitution will finally cause a serious discussion on the charter that to-date was carried out in terms of "symbolical shouts and slogans, " according to Polish Peasant Party leader Waldemar Pawlak. Eurodeputy Michal Kaminski (Law and Justice) said that the day when France rejected the EU constitution was a great day for Europe and a happy day for Poland as it revealed a gap between Brussels and nations of EU member states. "This is a very good piece of news, also for Poland," leader of the League of Polish Families Roman Giertych said. In his opinion the EU constitution is "nothing but rubbish."

Warsaw, May 27: Foreign minister Adam Rotfeld called on the Belarussian authorities here Friday to "demonstrate that they treat the law seriously." The appeal follows a recent decision of the Belarussian authorities to annul the recent congress of the Union of Poles in Belarus and the elections of its new authorities. If the UPB seeks a revision of the decision by a court of law, it must be done in accordance with the Belarussian law, Rotfeld told newsmen here Friday. "We have no intention of imposing any kind of standards on Belarus, we only wish that a choice made by a non-governmental and apolitical organization be a real choice and not a plebiscite in support of the ruling authorities," the minister went on. If the Belarussian side "demonstrates its will to solve the issue in accordance with the law, we will demonstrate our will to solve problems that cropped up as a result of this situation in bilateral relations," Rotfeld declared. A few days ago he said that persons who had been involved in actions directed against the UPB would be banned from entering Poland and other EU states. Last week the Belarussian authorities declared Polish embassy counsellor Marek Bucko persona non grata in Minsk.

Warsaw, May 27: In light of recent developments the Russian Duma resolution adopted Friday and calling on European parliaments to "condemn attempts at distorting history and rehabilitating fascism" is not surprising, according to foreign minister Adam Rotfeld. He also said that "as far as the Russian government and administration are concerned, the approach may be more balanced." The minister based his opinion on talks he had held with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in Warsaw ten days ago. "There has always been a difference between the Duma and the administration and let us hope that also this time it will find an expression," Rotfeld told newsmen here Friday. In his opinion "European nations feel very secure today" and this explains why "we return to history, to issues once put off because there were more urgent questions: we were threatened.""Now there are no threats and everyone tries to settle the issues that were shadowed in the past," Rotfeld went on. We deal with "a pent-up demand for truth" in world politics at present, the minister opined. "The time has come to say a few words about" the true history "and start from zero option," Rotfeld said. The Russian Duma resolution, adopted almost unanimously, is a reaction to a series of resolutions passed by the parliaments of the Baltic states and Poland recently, and also by the US Senate and the EU parliament. The Russian MPs voice their "outrage at resolutions adopted recently by parliaments of the Baltic states and Poland which try to brutally distort history." Appeals to Russia from the EU parliament to apologize for the occupation of Baltic states were termed "cynical" in the Friday resolution. The Duma MPs also voiced their "surprise" at the US Senate insistence on apologies for "illegal occupation" of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia by the Soviet Union.

Warsaw, May 30: Prime Minister Marek Belka said Monday he would accept Agriculture Minister Wojciech Olejniczak's resignation on Tuesday. Belka added he already had a candidate for the post but refused to disclose his name. It would probably be one of to-date deputy ministers. Wojciech Olejniczak who had been chosen as chairman of the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) during a convention on Sunday announced his plans to resign as agriculture minister on the same day. I accept this choice with great satisfaction and humility. I have asked the management of the party to step down so that a new management can be elected, Olejniczak said after his victory. New deputy leaders will be elected on June 11. Olejniczak won the votes of 267 party delegates, while his only rival, former SLD secretary general, Marek Dyduch, got 147 votes. Grzegorz Napieralski was chosen to be the new secretary general. Napieralski said SLD did not have any enemy in the left and that in the future the left must seek ways to unite. The convention decided that new SLD deputy leaders would be elected during the second part of the convention on June 11. Todate SLD deputy leader Katarzyna Piekarska lost a vote of confidence. Other outgoing members of the SLD board and national executive committee won a vote of confidence. Both in Poland and in other countries the right wing can be divided, but the left must be united, he stressed.

Warsaw, May 29: The Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) adopted an Election Manifesto here Sunday at the end of the first part of its national convention. The outgoing party leader Jozef Oleksy admitted in his opening address that the party failed its supporters. "We must struggle

for a new image for SLD because we are to blame" for this failure, he declared. Voters will regain confidence in the left wing politicians after some time, Oleksy predicted, but it was not

enough to say "sorry" now, it was necessary to prove that the party drew proper lessons from its past mistakes and was able to correct them. "We do not agree to moral revolutions as proposed by the Law and Justice (PiS)," Oleksy went on. We must not succumb to right wing demagoguery and wholesale negation of the accomplishments of the Third Polish Republic, he warned. "Together with other left-wing groups we must counter the offensive launched by the radical right-wing parties," he insisted. Oleksy listed the objectives sought by SLD as: struggle for dignity in human life, equality of the people, struggle against unemployment, tolerance, universal education, knowledge-based economy and accommodation in Europe. Oleksy also called on the parties which prepared themselves for taking over power in Poland to start a dialogue with SLD on Poland's future. Many speakers in the debate that followed criticised and attacked Marek Borowski, formerly an SLD leader and currently the leader of rival SdPl. Jerzy Szmajdzinski was frequently referred to as the party's presidential candidate. He said that it was necessary to analyse the chances of success. "If it turns out that we have such chances we will have to use them," Szmajdzinski declared. The debates summed up four years of left-wing governments. Delegates to the convention listed their mistakes and successes and admitted that the party lost a large part of its voter support. Szmajdzinski agreed that the SLD had made "many foolish things." He added, however, that "we will not let ourselves be reduced to second-class citizenship because we made mistakes like anybody else." Former prime minister and party leader Leszek Miller argued it was still not too late to make up for lost time and present voters a new image. The SLD still had chances for a good election result, Miller claimed. Presenting the Election Manifesto, former parliamentary floor

group leader Krzysztof Janik said it reiterated SLD's turn to the left in both its programme and policies. The programme calls for "containment of liberal and nationalist right wing." "We will not consent to spoiling the economy, depriving people of their freedom and rights," Janik assured.

Warsaw, May 27: The Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) expects Prime Minister Marek Belka to reinstate Andrzej Brachmanski as deputy Interior Minister, said a statement sent to PAP on Friday. The PM dismissed Brachmanski who was responsible for police on May 25. We expect the PM to draw proper conclusions and change his decision. This case cannot be a victory of provocateurs, the statement stressed. The dismissal followed a front-page story in Gazeta Wyborcza which alleged police officers from police national headquarters were involved in criminal networks. On Friday the daily printed a front-page apology for running a story based on a source that turned out to be false. Gazeta Wyborcza said the inaccuracies in a Monday report resulted from false information it received from the source. Immediately after the publication of the report, Brachmanski said it was 99 percent false and called it political science fiction. Gazeta Wyborcza discovered that its main sourceJanusz Tkaczyk, the police chief in Lodz, passed on false information he had received from a former colleague and friend. Tkaczyk was fired Friday. The source of his information, Jan Markowski, head of the regional office of the Central Investigation Bureau in Olsztyn, was also dismissed.

Warsaw, May 29: The Socialdemocracy of Poland (SdPl) and the Union of Labour (UP) will draft joint election list in the forthcoming parliamentary elections, according to the agreement signed here Saturday by the leaders of both parties. Also, the UP pledged to give support to SdPl's presidential runner Marek Borowski. SdPl's press spokesman Arkadiusz Kasznia said that his party would sign a similar agreement with the Greens 2004 on Tuesday. SdPl's leader Marek Borowski and UP leader Andrzej Spychalski explained that UP candidates for Sejm deputies will be put on SdPl's ticket in proportions resulting from public opinion soundings on the popularity of both parties. "This agreement means we are creating a more credible and stronger alternative to the radical right wing parties whose concepts hit out at civil liberties and are sometimes at variance with democracy," Borowski emphasized. He added that "the time of divisions is coming to an end, the time of unification is beginning." Spychalski noted that "we have just made the first serious step towards an integration of the Polish left wing."The agreement also provides for the setting up of a united left-wing party after the elections that would be open to other potential left-wing factions.

Lublin, May 29: The 4th Polish Republic that we are looking to will be a free state of free Poles, said Jaroslaw Kaczynski here on Sunday during another meeting in the series mottoed "Spring of the Poles". The leader of Law and Justice (PiS) party called for a thorough reformof the state, moral rebirth and building of the 4th Republic. In his opinion the 3rd Polish Republic was in fact a "postcommunist state", while the 4th Republic should refer to "the best traditions of Polish history, not the communist tradition.""We need a thorough reform of the legislative, judicial and executive branches of power," Kaczynski insisted and his words were greeted with applause from several hundred participants in the meeting.

Bialystok, May 27: The leader of the Union of Poles in Belarus (UPB) Andzelika Borys said that the Union's authorities had expected it would be threatened with delegalisation and had anticipated this situation. Belarussian justice minister Viktar Halawanau said earlier on Friday that unless the UPB held a repeat congress, the ministry would ask a law court to delegalise the Union, the largest Polish organization in Belarus. Belarussian authorities press for a repeat congress because they deem the first one, held in March and which led to changes in the composition of UPB authorities, as discordant with the law. Commenting on the situation Ms Borys, elected UPB president at the March congress, said it "was inconceivable in any other country." She added that although the Union planned to seek a court revision of the decision declaring the March congress null and void, it did not hope for a success. Borys suggested that the failure to publish Friday's edition of the Polish-language newspaper Glos znad Niemna was another step towards a delegalisation of UPB.

Bielsko-Biala, May 27: The culture minister formally established the International Centre for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust, spokesman for the State Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum Jaroslaw Mensfelt said.Changes had been introduced to the museum's statute whereby the to-date Centre for Education operating at the Museum was transformed into the International Centre, head of the Centre for Education Andrzej Kacorzyk said.The International Centre operates within the structure of the museum.Over 150 former Auschwitz Nazi death camp prisoners signed a founding act of the International Centre for Education about Auschwitz and the Holocaust, including Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, French political activist Simone Veil, Nobel prize winner and former prisoner Elie Wiesel. In addition to Polish prisoners, the act was signed by prisoners from Belarus, Ukraine, Israel and the United States. The founding act contains an appeal to historians, academics, and teachers to preserve the memory of the victims of the Auschwitz death camp and the Holocaust, deepen the understanding of the mechanisms of hatred and contempt and to develop dialogue and cooperation. The Centre will be located at the State Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum in the vicinity of the former camp. The Centre will cooperate closely with the Jerusalem's Yad Vashem, Washington's Holocaust Memorial, with leading world universities, international institutions and organisations.

Warsaw, May 27: Almost 100,000 Poles took up work in Britain since Poland joined the EU on May 1, 2004, the British embassy said in a press release here Friday. According to latest figures released by the Worker Registration Programme and published by the Home Office, the WRP listed 176,000 workers from the new EU member states between May 1,2004 and the end of March, 2005, including 98,000 Poles. Most of them are between 18 and 34 years of age. "We estimate that those registered between May, 2004 and March, 2005 have contributed some 500 million pounds to the British economy," immigration minister Tony McNulty is quoted as saying. "Workers from the new EU member states account for little over 0.4 pct of the British working-age population and there is no evidence suggesting they have had a significant impact on employment, unemployment or wages in Britain," McNulty added.

The WRP was established in order to monitor the impact of workers coming from new EU member states on the British economy.

Budapest, May 31: Polish and Hungarian Prime Ministers Marek Belka and Ferenc Gyurcsany met for several hours late Monday night to discuss the strategy of negotiations on the future EU budget and the consequences of the rejection of the European constitution by the French. Belka speaking at a press conference following the meeting said that the result of the French referendum "raises the uncertainty as to the nearest months and years, but it is not a catastrophe for the European Union." According to him a political will to continue integration is more important for the EU than documents. Belka expressed hope that France would remain "one of the driving forces of integration." Belka added that "despite what has happened, we are convinced that the timetable of EU enlargement should be implemented in an undisturbed manner." The PM upheld his opinion that a referendum on the EU constitution

should be held in Poland. In his opinion the fall date "seems to be fortunate." The two PMs also discussed bilateral political and economic cooperation stressing the growing level of mutual turnover.

Politicians divided about France's 'no' to EU constitution

Warsaw, May 30: Prime Minister Marek Belka said Monday that the EU Constitution ratification process should continue in other EU countries despite France's refusal to pass the treaty. The Polish Prime Minister stressed that an EU Constitution referendum should be held in Poland. He stressed Poland was firmly supporting the continuation of European integration. Europe should not stop and cannot do such a thing, Belka said. Halt the ratification procedure and not hurry with holding a referendum on the constitution which is "non-existent now," Citizien's Platform's leader Donald Tusk said. France's "no" to the EU constitution may mean a paralysis of further European integration, according to head of the Sejm committee for European Union Robert Smolen (Democratic Left Alliance - SLD). Despite France's decision Poland should hold a referendum on the European constitution, he added. Newly elected SLD leader Wojciech Olejniczak is for holding a referendum on the EU Constitutional Treaty in Poland. Recalling that people in France feared Poles flooding the country with cheap labour force Olejniczak said that if France by voting "no" admitted that the EU treaty was good for Poland Poles should vote for adopting the treaty. France's rejection of the EU charter dealt a blow not only to the constitution itself but also to the European integration, said deputy Sejm Speaker Tomasz Nalecz (Social Democracy of Poland - SdPl). He believes Poland should hold the EU referendum. Similar opinion was voiced by SdPl leader Marek Borowski who believes the referendum should be held this fall together with the presidential elections. Borowski told reporters that Poles should express their sovereign opinion on the treaty as the French vote was largely the expression of dissatisfaction of voters with their government. It's pointless to hold the referendum after France said "no" to the EU Constitutional Treaty said leader of right-wing Law and Justice PiS Jaroslaw Kaczynski. He added that the idea of holding them together with presidential elections is a "trick of the left-wing that wants to be re-elected, even by a whisker." Eurodeputy Michal Kaminski (Law and Justice) said that the day when France rejected the EU constitution was a great day for Europe and a happy day for Poland as it revealed a gap between Brussels and nations of EU member states. France's "no" to the constitution will finally cause a serious discussion on the according to Polish Peasant Party leader Waldemar Pawlak. "This is a very good piece of news, also for Poland," leader of the League of Polish Families Roman Giertych said. In his opinion the EU constitution is "nothing but rubbish."

Warsaw, May 30: The second anniversary of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) against the proliferation of mass destruction weapons announced by U.S. President George W. Bush in Cracow in 2003 will be observed on May 31, the Polish foreign minister said in a statement published Monday. The PSI goal is to develop international cooperation designed to stop shipments of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), their delivery systems, and related materials worldwide. During two years after its announcement PSI has gained a global dimension. The readiness to support the initiative has been voiced by over 60 countries together with the EU, NATO and the UN General Secretary. Poland has been actively promoting PSI worldwide. It organized an information meeting for all countries from Central and Eastern Europe and a meeting marking PSI first anniversary, the foreign minister stressed.

Warsaw, May 30: Surgeon Zbigniew Religa tops a recent CBOS confidence ranking of Poland's politicians with 63 percent voting in his favour (down 4 percentage points from April). Least trusted is former leader of the Democratic left Alliance (SLD) Jozef Oleksy, in whom mistrust is declared by 50 percent of the CBOS respondents. President Aleksander Kwasniewski, ex-PM Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Warsaw president Lech Kaczynski and leader of Law and Justice Jaroslaw Kaczynski follow Religa with respectively 54, 48 and 46 percent of

Poles declaring they trust them. Samoobrona leader Andrzej Lepper is mistrusted by 46 percent. Next come governor of the National Bank of Poland Leszek Balcerowicz (45 percent) and leader of the League of Polish Families Roman Giertych (42 percent).

Warsaw, May 31: Wojciech Olejniczak, the new head of the Democratic left Alliance (SLD), thinks that Jerzy Szmajdzinski would be a good candidate for president. Olejniczak speaking to Radio Zet on Tuesday said that Szmajdzinski would be a good candidate and if elected a good president but added that its too bad that Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz has decided not to run in the presidential elections. He added that consultations are underway inside the SLD as to the selection of a party presidential candidate noting that Szmajdzinski's candidature was welcomed by many party members. Asked whether he would want Leszek Miller, former SLD leader, to run in general elections, Olejniczak said that "Miller has his electorate in Lodz and is a popular person there," but added that as far as he knows Miller has not yet decided whether he wants to run for a parliamentary seat.

Brussels, May 30: To-date Agriculture Minister Wojciech Olejniczak said here Monday that as the new head of the Democratic Left Alliance SLD he was open to dialogue with Social Democracy of Poland (SLD splinter group). "We've agreed with Marek Borowski (the SdPl head) that we will stay in touch. We will meet still this week," Olejniczak told Polish journalists on Monday. He also said he would gladly see somebody from the ministry to replace him as agriculture minister for Poland needed the continuation of the to-date ministry's policy. He added that the period preceding parliamentary elections would be very difficult for the SLD as there is a "number of problems to be solved." However, he is convinced that despite this his grouping would win seats in new parliament. Olejniczak added that work and truth are the best ways to push the party ratings up.

Prime Minister: Brachmanski will not be reinstated as deputy interior minister

Warsaw, May 30: Prime Minister Marek Belka said Monday he would not reinstate Andrzej Brachmanski as deputy Interior Minister. Brachmanski was dismissed last Wednesday. His dismissal followed a front-page story in Gazeta Wyborcza which alleged police officers from police national headquarters were involved in criminal networks. Later the daily printed a front-page apology for running a story based on a source that turned out to be false. Gazeta Wyborcza said the inaccuraciesin a Monday report resulted from false information it received

from the source. Immediately after the publication of the report, Brachmanski said it was 99 percent false and called it political science fiction. Government spokesman Dariusz Jadowski said Friday the dismissal was not caused by the report.

Warsaw, May 31: Maciej Plazynski, one of the founders of the Citizens Platform (PO) will most likely run in the fall presidential elections, Rzeczpospolita daily wrote in its Tuesday edition. Plazynski declined to make any final declaration regarding his presidential plans but said that "talks are in progress". The daily suggests that the former Sejm speaker has already held talks with the Polish Peasant Party (PSL) and has initially decided to run for president and adds that the former PO politicians continues his talks with other political millieus and smaller organizations. PSL deputy head Janusz Piechocinski has confirmed that such talks are underway and a decision on Plazynski's candidacy may be expected this week. For the time being, officially PSL politicians do not exclude forwarding their own "party" candidate in the presidential elections. Rzeczpospolita notes that if Plazynski decides to run he would turn for support to the same electorate as professor Religa and Kaczynski .

Lodz, May 30: Former PM Leszek Miller may run for the Sejm in the autumn elections. Miller, currently on a study tour in the U.S., said in Lodz, central Poland Monday that he would announce his decision on the matter next month. Asked about Wojciech Olejniczak, the new leader of Miller's mother party Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), Miller said Olejniczak was "a man that couldn't be steered". Miller, who is returning to the U.S. Tuesday, said the leadership change in SLD shortly before the elections was a good idea. He also noted that SLD was the only party to carry through a generation change at the top. Commenting the approaching presidential elections, Miller voiced hopes that Sejm speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, who recently announced he would not run for the presidency, would reconsider the decision.

Warsaw, May 30: The Polish Peasant Party's (PSL) Sejm faction wants the government to present a report in parliament on the planned increases in excise tax rates on electricity, fuel oil and liquefied natural gas, the party's press office said Monday. PSL claims that the increases will result in higher prices on good and services which in turn will translate into lower competitiveness of the Polish economy. PSL said in the press release that the rises in excise tax was "an attempt at rescuing the state budget at the expense of citizens and firms".

Warsaw, May 30: The United States will officially reply to Poland's application for the arrest and extradition from the U.S. of Polish-born businessman Edward M. (name withheld), suspected of ordering the shooting of Poland's police chief Marek Papala. "It is a bad sign," according to prosecutors from the national prosecutor's office. Two weeks ago the U.S. justice department informed Poland it was ending analysing Edward M. extradition application. Instead of e-mailing the reply, the U.S. side said that an official reply will be sent. "It bodes ill," prosecutor Andrzej Kepinski said. Edward M. is charged with ordering 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 Edward M. was issued in February.

Brussels, May 30: Poland, EU biggest frozen strawberry producer has motioned the European Union for protecting the European strawberry market mainly against imports from China, deputy Agriculture Minister Wieslaw Zapedowski told PAP. Growing imports, the decreasing share of Poland's market and deterioration in conditions of freezing plants justifies protection actions compatible with the WTO procedure, Zapedowski told PAP. According to Zapedowski, the Polish motion is well-grounded and may make the EC to introduce temporary protection measures in form of higher customs duties for strawberry from outside the EU including China. The Polish motion will be examined on June 16 by a special committee at the EC.

Brussels, May 30: Poles employed in industry and services earn less than the EU average but not badly compared to the other new EU states, the EU's Eurostat office informed Monday. Eurostat based its report on 2002 figures, according to which Poles working in industry and the service sector earned an annual average of 7,07 thousand euros. According to Eurostat income discrepancies between the sexes in Poland are relatively small, Polish males earning average 20 percent more than females.

Warsaw, May 30: Representatives of 53 Taiwanese firms held business talks with Polish firms here Monday. Among the possible projects to be implemented in Poland is a computer factory and a cardboard packaging plant. "Trade missions of this kind are held twice yearly and arouse considerable interest in both countries," said Marta Gos of TAITRA, the Taiwanese trade centre. Some 500 business meetings are held during each such event, she went on. The firms from Taiwan offer information and present samples of their production. This time they displayed car accessories and parts, sunglasses, upholstery materials, locks, stainless steel products, skates, clocks, etc. The head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre in Poland Nicolas Hsu told PAP that firms from his country were very much interested in trade with Poland. One obstacle to trade development was re-entry visas requiring much paperwork to obtain, he said. Another was formalities necessary to set up a company and start

investing. Language problems also occurred, Hsu added. However, he pointed to such strong points of Poland as an investment host as reasonable land and building costs and relatively cheap but skilled labour. The Polish-Taiwanese trade keeps growing from year to year. According to data from the ministry of economy and labour, Polish imports reached 727 m USD in the 11 months of 2004 ending in November, compared with only 504 m USD a year earlier. Exports from Poland reached 66 and 48 m USD, respectively. The economy ministry data show that Polish exports comprise chiefly leather and leather goods, precious stone products, gypsum, precious metals products, shoes and head gear. Imports from Taiwan embrace textiles, plastics and mineral products.

Warsaw, May 30: Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Crimea Anatoliy Matvienko on Monday left 140 cooperation offers with the Polish Chamber of Commerce KIG and invited Polish businessmen to invest in that part of Ukraine. Matvienko, one of the leaders of the Ukranian "orange revolution" assured businessmen that his government would spare no effort to make tender procedures transparent, reliable and responsible. He also announced that during talks with PM Marek Belka on Tuesday he would touch on launching a permanent air connection on Warsaw-Sympheropol route. The chairman said his government will support geological prospecting of the Black Sea shelf which contains more crude oil and gas than the deposits in the Caspian Sea.

Tokyo, May 30: The Polish Airlines LOT plans to go public in the first quarter of next year, its CEO Marek Grabarek said Monday. "We are ready to stage a public offering of LOT shares in the form of a new issue flotation," he said in an interview. Grabarek denied his company was in talks with Lufthansa on the sale of shares. "There has been no discussion on Lufthansa's capital participation in LOT or vice versa," he declared. "We only talk on the planned stock market debut."

Katowice, May 30: The Pyrzowice international airport wants to spend 215 million zlotys (ca. 63 million USD) on investments in major expansion over the next 15 years. 56 million zlotys are to be spent by 2007. According to plans the passenger terminal space floor will be doubled to 15,7 thousand square metres. The number of check-in desks will more than double, reaching 35. The annual handling capacity of the airport will grow to 3.5 m people, and the hourly handling capacity will increase to 1,100 passengers. There will be twice more parking places. Most of the planned works will be executed in 2006, and the opening of the new terminal is scheduled in mid-2007, when Poland will join the Schengen treaty. The Pyrzowice airport was the fastest growing airport in Europe last year as far as passenger traffic was concerned. Second was the Riga airport. Pyrzowice handled 623,000 passengers in 2004, vs. 258,000 in 2003. This year expectations are for 1 million passengers.

Warsaw, May 31: Boryszew chemical plant has bought a German company that produces polyester granulate and fibres for 5.5 million euros, Boryszew said in a communique Tuesday.

"The acquisition agreements were signed by Borysze and Boryszew's newly established company in Germany - Polyester Production und Vertriebs GmbH - that is 100 percent owned by Boryszew," the communique said. Annual sales of the German company that employs 195 people are planned at 90 million euros. "The asset take over by Boryszew and its company is scheduled to take place on 31 May 2005 at 2400 hrs and the plant will continue production," the communique said. Boryszew is planning to sell 75 percent of the German company's production on EU markets with 25 percent going to its Torun-based company Elana.

Warsaw, May 31: President Aleksander Kwasniewski on Tuesday recalled Wojciech Olejniczak from the post of Agriculture Minister and appointed Olejniczak's deputy Jerzy Pilarczyk new minister. Earlier in the day Olejniczak said that much had been done for the Polish farming and stressed the payment of direct subsidies for farmers. He recalled that in 2004 1,385,000 farmers received direct subsidies worth 7.7 mn zlotys (2.3 mn USD). This year 1,479,000 farmers have already applied for subsidies, he added. Olejniczak submitted the resignation after he was elected new leader of the Democratic Left Alliance on Sunday. He said he had to resign in view of forthcoming parliamentary elections prior to which a "number of problems within the SLD have to be solved." Earlier Olejniczak's decision was accepted by PM Marek Belka.

Warsaw, May 31: "Poland Now" award is something more than a mere award - it is a business card and a symbol of professionalism and reliability, President Aleksander Kwasniewski said while handing over diplomas and congratulatory letters to the laureates. On Tuesday the Polish Promotional Emblem Foundation "Poland Now" made public the list of 25 best products and services awarded during the 15th edition of the contest. Kwasniewski prized the popularity of the contest. In the past 15 years nearly 4,000 Polish firms took part in it with 274 having gained awards. Kwasniewski, who holds the honorary patronage over the event, said he hoped for his successor to continue this tradition. The president also handed diplomas to laureates of "Motyl 2004" (Butterfly 2004) award granted by Jolanta Kwasniewska foundation Communication without barriers for making life easier for the disabled.

Warsaw, May 31: President Aleksander Kwasniewski on Tuesday met with Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Crimea Anatoliy Matvienko, the presidential press office wrote in a press release. The guest thanked Kwasniewski for Poland's support for Ukraine during the time of transformations which have taken place in that country. The two discussed Polish-Ukrainian relations, including Poland's cooperation with Crimea in such fields as tourism, ecology and agriculture.

Washington, May 31: Foreign Minister Adam Daniel Rotfeld met Tuesday with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The Polish foreign minister told reporters after the meeting that the U.S. secretary of State confirmed that Poland would receive still this year 100 million USD to modernize its armed forces promised by U.S. President George W. Bush.

Ms. Rice also said that the U.S. administration would remove from its computers the data concerning minor offences committed before 1989 by Poles applying for U.S. visas. This move is part of the so-called road map designed to gradually lift visas for Poles.

Warsaw, June 1: Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said Wednesday that he was not planning to change his decision and that he would not run for president in the forthcoming elections. Cimoszewicz admitted that he was receiving letters and appeals from many people trying to convince him to change his decision. Cimoszewicz announced on May 18 that he would notrun for president. He upheld his earlier declarations that he intended to withdraw from politics after the end of the present term of the Sejm.

Warsaw, June 1: Former Sejm Speaker Maciej Plazynski has not decided as yet whether to contest the forthcoming presidential election. "I have time until mid-June to put myself forward as a candidate as such is the electoral calendar," Plazynski said in Cracow. "I will take the decision after considering whether I have sufficient power base. There would be no sense in running in the elections without power base," he added. "My power base would be ordinary people, non-party members, who are sceptical about the Polish reality," Plazynski said.

Zakopane, May 31: The EU Commissioner in charge of regional development Danuta Huebner positively assessed Poland's effectiveness in seeking EU funds for regional development projects. "We have good experiences, but this is just the beginning of the road," she said here Tuesday. Poland did everything it should in the first year of EU membership as far as the cohesion funds were concerned, Huebner opined. She warned, however, that this was just the beginning of the whole process. "We now wait for preliminary experience in executing individual projects. We wait for the moment when the first invoices related to the cohesion funds reach Brussels. Then we will see how the implementation process proceeds," she said.

Warsaw, May 31: Sejm Speaker Wlodzmierz Cimoszewicz has been invited to a meeting of the European Integration Committee (KIE) scheduled for Wednesday and planned to focus on the ratification by Poland of the European constitution, PM Marek Belka told reporters in Warsaw on Tuesday. The PM added that the errors found some time ago in the Polish version of the EU Constitutional Treaty have been removed. He said that despite France's rejection of the treaty its ratification should continue with Poland deciding about it in a referendum. During the debates the Sejm speaker will be familiarized with the state of preparations for the referendum campaign. Belka said PMs of the Visegrad Group will meet in Kazimierz nad Wisla in Poland on June 10 to discuss initiatives aimed at developing European integration.

Zakopane, May 31: The French rejection of the EU constitutional treaty should not bring the ratification process in other EU states to a stop, according to EU commissioner Danuta Huebner. She noted here Tuesday that the architects of the ratification process had foreseen a situation when some of the member states would reject the treaty. The heads of government obligated themselves in Rome that if only 20 states ratified the treaty by November, 2006, then they would meet again and decide what to do next. "This means that it was assumed that the process would go on and possible "no" verdicts, like the one in France or possibly in Holland, should not bring the process to a halt," Huebner declared.

Balcerowicz: Poland should strive for Maastricht criteria despite French "no"

Warsaw, May 31: Despite the French "no" to the EU constitutional treaty Poland should try to meet Maastricht criteria, and the French referendum result should not have an impact on Polish efforts to join the euro zone, NBP governor Leszek Balcerowicz said Tuesday. "The French referendum result does not change what is necessary for Poland. The faster we develop, the stronger our position in the EU," Balcerowicz added. "The referendum result should not have any influence on what must be done by Poland in its own best interest. Joining the euro zone depends chiefly on us. In order to join the zone we must meet certain conditions, including sound public finances," he recalled. Poland wants to meet the Maastricht criteria by 2007 and join the ERM2 currency mechanism. After 2 years, in 2009, Poland could

New York, June 1: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will not come to Poland to attend ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of the Solidarity trade union, PAP was told by Brenden Varma from the UN press office. The UN Secretary General will not attend the observances in Poland, Varma said and added that under way was still discussion on sending a UN representative to Poland. The invitation to Annan to attend the observances was sent twice by former president and Solidarity leader Lech Walesa. Kofi Annan was also invited to visit Poland by Presidnet Aleksander Kwasniewski.

Warsaw, May 31: The government has assigned nearly 5.5 mn zlotys (1.7 mn USD) for supporting the organisation of ceremonies marking the 25th anniversary of the day when the August Agreements were signed and the Solidarity trade union was formed, PM Marek Belka

said after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. More than 3.5 mn zlotys will come from the general reserve of the council of ministers and 1.9 mn from the culture ministry. "We want to hold the ceremonies with due decorum," Belka said. He added that according to the government the ceremonies should be a holiday of Solidarity and the entire nation.

Warsaw, May 31: Polish-Norwegian economic and political relations and social policy dominated a meeting between deputy Prime Minister Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka, Crown Prince Haakon Mangus of Norway and his wife Crown Princess Mette-Marit on Tuesday. The Polish deputy PM stressed the significance of contacts with Norway for Poland and praised political and economic cooperation between the two countries.

Warsaw, May 31: An agreement on joint participation in parliamentary elections and on granting support for the candidacy of Marek Borowski in the presidential elections has been signed on Tuesday. The document was signed by Social Democracy of Poland (SdPL), the

Union of Labour (UP) and Greens 2004. In tune with the agreement, UP and Greens candidates will run in parliamentary election on the SdPL ticket. "In Polish conditions this is a historic agreement," Borowski said commenting the document and recalled that Green parties in many EU countries are present in ruling coalitions, both at local and national levels. "This is yet another step on a road leading to cooperation of parties which aim is social justice and solidarity, which are for the protection of citizens rights and freedoms and for democracy," said Borowski.

Warsaw, June 1: Professor Andrzej Rzeplinski from the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights is a candidate for Ombudsman. He was nominated by the Citizens' Platform's parliamentary caucus. Sejm Speaker Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said that Rzeplinski's candidacy would be put to vote during the second June session of the Sejm. Tuesday was the deadline for proposing Ombudsman candidates. The term of office of the present Ombudsman, professor Andrzej Zoll, ends on June 30.

Warsaw, May 31: Poland has begun withdrawing surplus military equipment from Camp Echo in Divaniyah, Iraq, under a downsizing scheme to embrace 200 troops. Withdrawn from the Polish Iraq force will be 28 vehicles and 21 containers with equipment. Poland's current Iraq shift numbers 1,600 troops. The next will count 1,400.

Warsaw, May 31: Police chief Leszek Szreder told reporters on Tuesday that he was fully determined to get to bottom of everything that was going on in the police recently. Szreder added that by the end of this week he would give Interior Minister Ryszard Kalisz a report with moves planned to improve the situation in the police. My uniform is clean and I want to keep it like this till the very end, Szreder stressed. Gazeta Wyborcza has recently published a story which alleged police officers from police national headquarters were involved in criminal networks. A few days later the daily printed a front-page apology for running a story based on a source that turned out to be false. Gazeta Wyborcza said the inaccuracies in its report resulted from false information it received from the source. Immediately after the publication of the report deputy Interior Minister Andrzej Brachmanski said it was 99 percent false and called it political science fiction. Later he was dismissed by the PM. Gazeta Wyborcza discovered that its main sourceJanusz Tkaczyk, the police chief in Lodz, passed on false information he had received from a former colleague and friend. Tkaczyk was fired Friday. The source of his information, Jan Markowski, head of the regional office of the Central Investigation Bureau in Olsztyn, was also dismissed.

Warsaw, May 31: As of next year EU-travelling Poles will carry European Health Insurance cards in place of the present E-111 insurance forms. The plastic EHS cards will be issued by the Polish National Health Fund and will cost 4 groszes (1 cent). European Insurance Cardsare already valid in the EU. Poland was granted transition in their introduction until the end of 2005.

Poznan, June 1: The 60-million-euro Poznan Plaza shopping and amusement centre opened on Tuesday, the 4th such centre in Poland and the 20th built by Plaza Centres in Central and Eastern Europe. The new 64 thousand square metre centre houses 10 cinemas, an amusement park, a supermarket and around 150 boutiques. It cost 60 million euros to build and will give jobs to 1,000 people. Plaza Centres is planning to build new centres in Lublin and Rybnik, later in Sosnowiec. Together with to-date investments (Sadyba Best Mall in Warsaw, Ruda Slaska Plaza and Krakow Plaza) they will create around 6,000 new jobs. "We will invest some 120 million euros in the new centres," director general of Plaza Centre Management Zew Ben-Zvi said. Plaza Centres allocated 20 million zlotys to reconstruct the communications layout in the vicinity of its Poznan investment.

Warsaw, May 31: March saw a 67 mn euros surplus on the current account against the deficit of 30 mn euros in February and the 77 mn euros surplus expected by the surveyed analysts, according to the National Bank of Poland. The NBP wrote that compared to March 2004 the current account balance gained 619 mn euros. The analysis of current account separate positions indicates that it was largely due to improvement in the balance of current transfers (by 359 mn euros), improvement in the balance of services (250 mn euros) and the decrease in the deficit of commodity turnover balance by 244 mn euros. Income deficit was down 234 mn euros in the said period.

Warsaw, May 31: Finance minister Miroslaw Gronicki said the GUS release on economic growth in the first quarter year showed an acceleration from Q4, 2004, seasonally adjusted. He predicted GDP growth of ca. 4 pc for the year as a whole. Growth in the first quarter was slower than expected and the reason was small investment growth, according to Gronicki. "We expected somewhat better results, but the first quarter is always difficult for investments," the finance minister commented Tuesday after the GUS figures were released. "Investments were the weakest element in GDP." He predicted that the GDP will grow 4 pc for the year as a whole.

Warsaw, June 1: Inflation will fall to 2.4 percent in May from 3.0 percent in April year-on-year, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday adding that in May prices will grow 0.2 percent month-on-month. The Finance Ministry expects that prices of consumer goods and services will grow in May 2005 by 0.2 percent from April 2005. This can lead to the conclusion that inflation will fall to 2.4 percent year-on-year, the ministry said. In April inflation fall to 3.0 percent form 3.4 percent in March.

Warsaw, June 1: Ballet groups representing current trends in the European modern dance will take part in the 6th International Contemporary Dance Festival "Body-Mind" 2005 held in Warsaw between June 4 and 11. Eleven groups and soloists wi11 come from France, Germany, Switzerland, the RSA and Poland. The programme includes multimedial shows combining dancing and video-effects, and "theme dance" referring to important social problems. The festival will be inaugurated by the show of "Koerper / Bodies" by famous German choreographer Sasha Waltz and her Dance Theatre from Berlin in Warsaw's Grand Theatre National Opera. Gilles Jobin of Geneva will present the show titled "Steak House" and Jerome Bel of Paris will show twice his "T-shirt epic". Johannesbourg-born choreographer Boyzie Cekwana comes with his project "Cut!". In his choreography the artist draws inspiration from South-African dancing transforming it into modern choreography. Polish artist will appear in the performance "Good Girl Killer".

Warsaw, May 31: An appeals court on Tuesday ruled that Lew Rywin, the co-producer of "Schindler's List" and "The Pianist" sentenced to a two-year prison term in a bribery scandal, can leave prison for health reasons. Lawyers for Rywin decided to appeal his imprisonment, saying his health condition made it dangerous for him to remain in jail. The appeals court ordered the suspension of his sentence while a lower court is to decide whether Rywin's condition makes it possible for him to complete his prison term or not. Rywin began serving his sentence at a Warsaw prison on April 18.