Posted on 07/19/2006 8:59:52 AM PDT by twinself
WARSAW - Poland's new Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has called for a bigger role for European Union (EU) newcomers in the bloc's decision-making processes and insisted that Poland will defend its "moral identity" within the EU.
"We are and we want to be in the EU, to participate in everything...But we want enlargement to mean real participation, not just formal participation (of new member states) in all decision-making mechanisms," Kaczynski, the twin brother of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, said in a policy speech to parliament.
"We will strive toward this end on our own but also with the Weimar Triangle" countries, which in addition to Poland include France and Germany, "and the Visegrad group", made up of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, Kaczynski said.
All four Visegrad countries joined the EU in May 2004 along with the three Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania; the former Yugoslav republic of Slovenia; Cyprus and Malta.
Earlier this month, President Kaczynski pulled out at the last minute of a meeting with his Weimar Triangle counterparts, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, officially because of illness.
The press in Poland has speculated, however, that he pulled out of the meeting because he was upset by a parody of his twin and himself in a German newspaper.
In his policy speech on Wednesday, Jaroslaw Kaczynski also vowed to defend the moral values of overwhelmingly Catholic Poland within the EU.
"Poland wants to be in the EU...but we are different in terms of our customs. We will demand full sovereignty in moral matters," Kaczynski said, insisting that Poland would "preserve its moral national identity" within the bloc.
"We will do everything to defend the Polish family against all attacks, in particular from outside," he said.
Polish lawmakers in May spoke out against issues such as homophobia entering into official EU debate.
"Identifying with the moral Judeo-Christian heritage of Europe, the Polish parliament cannot approve the introduction into official EU texts of notions such as 'homophobia'," the lawmakers said in a statement.
And in January, Poland's powerful Catholic church described an appeal by members of the European Parliament for EU member states to tackle anti-gay discrimination and recognise same-sex couples as "contrary to the laws of nature."
"The appeal to member states' governments to grant equality to unions between people of the same sex and marriages infringes basic laws of nature and imperils marriage and the family," Poland's episcopal conference said in a statement.
In his policy speech in parliament, Kaczynski recalled that the Polish "constitution says that marriage is a union between a man and a woman."
Kaczynski was presenting the programme and policies of his government to parliament ahead of a vote of confidence in his cabinet.
ping!
As long as President Lech Kaczynski is not sitting offended on a toilet he is welcome to change Europe into something better.
It is not that easy for girls like Angela to held summits in the mens room ya know.
:-)
P.S. The recent foreign policy of Poland was quite contraproductive for the country. I say that as a well-meaning friend of Poland. Somehow awkward.
Poland courtesy ping.
This will not sit well with France.........
Hi Andreas,
Kaczynski Bros Company are decent guys but somehow awkward on international arena which springs from their lack of suave. They are both quite proud, stubborn and distrustful. Apart from that I believe their vision of the world is even more good-evil oriented than that of GWB. This all makes diplomacy a little bit difficult for them. But they're struggling to do better, believe me... Jaroslaw has improved his PR in recent months just incredibly. Time will show whether focusing on family values, infrastructure and economy was just an expose BS or their real priority.
Any country has its vital interests and Germany has learned welll to use EU to express them. This lesson is still ahead of the brothers.
Regards
And I want EU subsidies to consumption of beer.
Lech Wałęsa said correspondingly in a recent interview with the German Spiegel magazine that the Kaczynski brothers destroy much more than they might produce. Anyway their damage will be limited since Poland has only restricted political possibilities in the moment. His advise was to wait until they loose their power. Wałęsa doubted that they reach the end of the current legislative period.
I know some people in the West consider Walesa a wiseman for what he'd done in Solidarity movement. I respect him for that too but believe it or not at present NOBODY in Poland treats Walesa seriously. His "funny" rules in the early '90 as a president put him down in the eyes of Polish public opinion and what worse enabled commies to cover, re-group and take power again for a decade. Kaczynski bros believe Walesa opened the doors opened for commie agents, hidden agendas and business-government corruption. That's why they are talking about the 4th Republic, sweeping away what's left of this shameful legacy and simply cannot stand the guy.
It seems so. Anyway - the recent TAZ-affair was disconcerting for Poland.
I would love to see some more conservative and capitalistic influence from Poland on the EU. But that takes leaders that are able to rise to the occasion and that are able to express their policy in a way that the others can accept it. Personal animosities should be something private. Even if President Kaczynski has a problem with the German press he should have the grandeur to deal with Angela Merkel who has nothing to do with the offense (which I dismiss since it was tasteless, but we have the freedom of the press in Germany).
Well, being in liberal-socialist dominated EU where EU rulings and regulations often override national parliaments, is it possible for Poland to remain in EU and retain its Catholic character ? I doubt it. I think the best option for Poland and other countries who don't want to be run by Eurocracy is simply to quit EU and remain in NATO. I know it sounds strange since many E. European countries saw EU Entrance as a rubberstamp of return to the Western Civilization after the Years of being part of the "Socialist Camp". However, the trend is that the EU in a long term will become more and more liberal-socialist with the disastrous consequences for national identities of the member-states. For instance, can Poland keep it's Catholic character and keep large Muslim populations from moving to Poland from France, Germany and other original EU Member states ? Will Eurocrats screem "Discrimination" if Poland wants to restrict immigration into Poland from Muslim countries or Muslim populations from the EU Member states ? These are very serious questions so Poland may reevaluate whether it needs to be in EU.
Duck'n'cover. Duck'n'cover. Duck'n'cover.
Let's hope he comes home in good health. This hezzi BS should be not his party.
No doubt. They got carried away with emotions because of some dirt from a leftist rag. Sure Angela not only has nothing to do WITH IT, she cannot do anything ABOUT IT. These kinds of things they need to learn in international relations.
"Lech Wałęsa said correspondingly in a recent interview with the German Spiegel magazine that the Kaczynski brothers destroy much more than they might produce." That true (at least so far), but on the other hand the same could be said about Walesa and unlike twins he's not going to have a chance to prove that wrong.
You Poles have obviously a problem in choosing your Presidents. The Kaczynski brothers are not that hip and Lech Walesa is somehow "funny". My suggestion: What about you Polish freepers? All those reasonable guys like Twinself, Lukasz, Grzegorz 246 and Lizol would be much more suitable presidents that your contemporary political class. ;-)
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