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.
That might be impossible since they still sit on their toilet reading the TAZ. It is up to you Poles to move something more than just toilet paper.
Maybe, with time... For now J. Kaczynski was hit by a wave of criticism from Polish commentators for not mentioning Germany as a key ally in his introductory PM speech. Therefore he will try to improve his bad image in Germany and improve this relationship. Angela paved the way calling his brother his brother Lech a day before the meeting with GWB. So now it's their turn and a good occasion will be an official visit, in Autumn I believe.
You shouldn't mention the consumption of beer to me while I am at work... now I will be daydreaming the rest of the day!
Sometimes I'm just cruel :(
Poland deserves just as much as it can perform in terms of economy. It's very simple. Spaniards or Italians aren't brighter or more hard-working than us, they simply have better organized economies. And if majority of Poles understand that (i.e. from their observations of the West after the old, communism bred generation is gone) we will have that boom to. The future is ours. :)
You should understand this approach very well. Germans are actually a very intersting case among European "family" of nations who tend to perceive their own status on the basis of their economy's performance. Actually thanks to its strenght you manage to successfully absorb many of my compatriots looking for better standard of living, especially in the '80s. And to tell the truth Poles are your only chance if you want to have something different than France has. I mean German Pole looks a lil bit different to a German Turk. I think you can feel this difference well intuitively. :)
Just for that I went to Hooters today for lunch, beer and well, Krista says hi.
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