BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

09/10/2008

Foreign ministry's Belarus trip 'failure', says president

Kaczynski takes pot shots at Foreign Ministry; Extreme right-winger rejoices in Geremek's exhumation; Politicians overspend on groceries?

Today's Dziennik features an interview with President Lech Kaczynski in which he sharply criticizes Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski and Poland's relationship with "the regime of [Belarusian president] Alexander Lukashenko," the so-called 'last dictator in Europe'. He stated that the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs' mission to Belarus last week - in connection with the EU's Eastern partnership programme of bringing the former Soviet nation closer to western structures: "Was a predictable mission which turned out to be a [failure]." Kaczynski added that there was absolutely no connection between the two separate missions of the foreign ministry and the mission led by the Bureau of National Security (BBN).

When asked if he trusted the intent of the Foreign Ministry in it's relations with Belarus, the president replied: "Poland's eastern policies are directed generally by people who finished the Moscow School of Diplomacy (MGiMO). And one can see that in every step. I'm not criticizing Radoslaw Sikorski, however, I am aiming at diplomats."

A new video about Solidarity legend and former foreign minister Bronislaw Geremek is widely circulating on the internet. The video, shot by an extreme right-winger from Lublin in southeast Poland, makes the claim that "the best thing [Geremek] did for Poland was go and kill himself." Shot before the gates of the Powazki cemetery in Warsaw, where Geremek is buried, the three minute video ecstatically encourages his exhumation, which is set to take place in order to determine the disputed cause of death. Eugeniusz Sendecki, the filmmaker, claims that Powazki is for "great patriots and not for vermin like Geremek."

Geremek, a highly respected politician and leader in the Round Table talks that created a peaceful transformation for Poland from a communist regime to democracy, died in a car crash in July. He was granted a state funeral and a place among Poland's heroes in Powazki. The cause of his car crash has been disputed - an exhumation of his body has been ordered to determine whether or not he killed himself, as has been speculated by some, or that it was simply a tragic accident.

Warsaw's daily tabloid Fakt reports that government officials "do not know poverty." The paper picked the example of 51-year-old Education Minister Katarzyna Hall and compared her weekly shopping to that of a school teacher who has been teaching for 20 years. The minister's shopping basket was overflowing with food "that must have cost her at least 600 zloty - around 200 euros." The teacher, Magdalena Standio from Wroclaw, claims that "I only do such shopping once a year, for the holidays." The tabloid additionally reports that Hall earns 14,000 zloty (4,000 euro) per month before taxes.

Standio claims that the salary discrepancy (she earns 3,200 zloty per month, approximately 900 euro) requires her to count every single zloty that she spends. The tabloid asks "could there be a better example of how politicians only seem to promise the people a better life?"

Source:

http://www.polskieradio.pl/thenews/press-review/?id=93174

Google
 


Partners:
Face.by Social Network
Face.by