„In Polish politics there is a principle that the war ax should be buried with the enemy.” – Leszek Miller, Social Democratic Alliance, Prime Minister until May 2, 2004, (statement for Polish Public Television)
Życie Warszawy
„Before us are only bad and very bad political scenarios. If the elections take place within the next few months, we can expect deep divides on the political scene. None of the parties will receive the minimum number of votes required to form a government. No coalition able to effectively lead the nation will emerge. (…)
Prime Minister Miller has led us to the complete dissolution of the state. He has lost the ability to rule and everything points to the fact that this state of affairs will last for some time yet. Sometimes it seems to me that we have to get to the wall, brush off our national catastrophe, and put our head in the yoke of Lepper’s dictatorship and his clique in order for voters to realize that the arguments and personal ambitions can only destroy and never build.”
Paweł Śpiewak, April 8.
Wprost
Paweł Śpiewak, April 18.
Polityka
Interview with President Aleksander Kwaśniewski, April 10.
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„The state increasingly often holds out its hands for a favor. From the gifts of firms and citizens benefit the police, prosecutors, courts, fire department and many other institutions. Acceptance of such gifts can be risky. It is not always known why someone is giving and why another is taking.
The greatest problems and suspicions are aroused by gifts for the police. Last year Polish police collected nearly zl.24.5 million (5.2 million euro) – zl.10.5 million in donated items and the rest in financial instruments. In previous years these gifts exceeded as much as zl.40 million. It would seem that this is not much considering a budget reaching zl. 5.5 billion. However, when money for salaries is taken out, this amount grows into a significant sum without which it would be difficult to survive.
In previous years the police was accused of taking everything from everyone – they are even sponsored by criminals. Wholesalers, security agencies, gastronomy facilities, cafes and private persons collected to support the police. They accepted furniture, vacuum cleaners, VCRs, copy machines, sobriety testers, banknote testers, gas, drinks and even toilet paper. Presents were accepted in exchange for a commitment to look for stolen cars. From this financial support Police Headquarters advertised the insurance services of the Warta company.
We must admit that the police itself gradually stirred up sponsors but fears that such uncontrolled support may take a criminal character remain.”
Jan Dziadul, April 17.
Rzeczpospolita
The time has come for Poland to not only ask Americans more confidently about their political and military plans. If Warsaw wants to be considered a serious ally, it should also make its voice heard concerning resolution of the Iraq crisis. Without losing Poland’s authority it would be difficult to withdraw the Polish army. This is actually our war, but where is our foreign policy?”
Janusz Reiter, president of the Center for International Relations, April 13.
Gazeta Wyborcza
Our structure of developmental research investment is poor mainly because approximately two-thirds consists of expenditures from the state budget, while in developed countries the lion’s share of money comes from the pocket of enterprises (for example in the USA this is about 75 percent). The apathy of our firms in this area means that in Poland research of a basic theoretical nature dominates for things which have a concrete use in practice.
In developed countries things are different because, just by their very nature, research and development investments by firms are better suited to their real needs and find a realistic use in the economy more rapidly, raising their competitiveness. In Europe, Poland (next to Turkey, Greece and Portugal) belongs to countries with the lowest share of enterprises in research finance. What is worse, such foreign firms express small interest in Poland as a site for their developmental research – a few or several such investments is a drop in the sea.”
Zbigniew Domaszewicz, April 13.
Gazeta Polska
Around the world there are over 30 similar festivals – among others, in the USA, Canada, France, Spain, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand. The Warsaw festival was born of
an idea by Mirosław Chojecki and the Honorary Committee is led by: Władysław Bartoszewski – co-founder of the „Żegota” Council to Aid Polish Jews and the former minister of foreign affairs as well as Simon Peres –former prime minister of Israel and Nobel Peace Prize winner.In Warsaw films from Central and Eastern Europe were shown first and foremost. Over 60 films were accepted to the competition for the first edition of the festival from, among other countries, Belarus, Russia, Latvia, Poland, France, Israel and the USA.
Viewers could also watch, among others, a presentation of pre-war films shot in Warsaw in Yiddish as well as take part in a scientific session concerning the history of Jewish film.”
Ewa Zarzycka, April 14.
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CATHOLIC CHURCH
Continuation and breakthrough
A little over 90% Poles declare themselves to be Catholic. However, 5% of believers do not attend church at all. 53,9% of believers declared they were living in accordance with the commandments of the Church. więcej...