World English News » Poland

Klaus’ Lisbon request exposes divisions

admin — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 16:07:51 +0000

[The Prague Post]– Before signing the Lisbon Treaty, President Václav Klaus demands an exemption for the Czech Republic from a human rights protocol he says could open the country up to restitution claims from Germans expelled after World War II.

But the timing of his request and the increasingly intense rhetoric surrounding Lisbon is magnifying how political divisions, long plaguing the country internally, are damaging the Czech Republic’s image on the European stage. At the same time, Klaus’ request raises questions about the performance of Czech Lisbon negotiators in past years – as the United Kingdom and Poland both received the exemption Klaus now seeks.

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Petr Novák, Wikipedia

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Poland signs Lisbon Treaty, Czechs last to hold out

admin — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:05:32 +0000

[France 24]– Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski signed the European Union’s reforming Lisbon Treaty in a ceremony Saturday, leaving his ultra-eurosceptic Czech counterpart Vaclav Klaus as the only holdout.

“The fact that the Irish people changed their minds meant the revival of the treaty, and there are no longer any obstacles to its ratification,” Kaczynski said before inking the text.

“Today is a very important day in the history of Poland and the European Union,” he added, as senior EU leaders looked on.

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Archive of the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland – www.prezydent.pl

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As Poles Age, ZUS Facing Shortages

admin — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:49:52 +0000

[Krakow Post]– Poland’s Social Insurance Office (Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych, or ZUS) is in trouble. In August of this year, it hit its “magical figure”, meaning that three working persons are now covering each retiree in Poland – and that’s only if “grey area” employment is counted. When only those working “officially” are considered, the ratio drops to 2.7 to one.

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Rancid Swedish Cold War meat sold to Poland

admin — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 23:53:51 +0000

[The Local]– Meat from Swedish stockpiles dating back to the Cold War has been sold to Poland to be served in restaurants, according to a report in the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper.

The Swedish state phased out its stockpiles of tinned meat at the end of the 1990s.

The Swedish Board of Agriculture then sold 1.5 million kilograms of the meat, which dates back up to 27 years, to a Swedish trading company.

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GJKend

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Poland to Still Get Missiles

admin — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 21:02:58 +0000

Despite yesterday’s news of no missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, the U.S. is still expected to fulfil one part of the agreement it signed with Poland in August 2008.

The U.S. has said that it will send a deployment of Patriot missiles to Poland, and contrary to previous statements, they will be armed. The Patriot battery is part of an upgrade of Polish air defences which was promised by the Bush administration.

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Obama Drops European Missile Plan

admin — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 07:13:21 +0000

[The Moscow Times]– U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday abandoned plans for a missile defense shield in Central Europe that had irritated Russia, and invited Russia to cooperate in the development of a more advanced defense system.

“The best way to responsibly advance our security and the security of our allies is to deploy a missile defense system that best responds to the threats that we face and that utilizes technology that is both proven and cost effective,” Obama told reporters in Washington. (For full text of Obama’s speech, click here.)

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the advanced defense system that would be pursued to protect the United States and its allies from any threats would start with the deployment of Aegis ships equipped with interceptors. He said land-based defense systems would be set up starting in about 2015.

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Bbsrock

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Poles, Germans rebury 2,000 WWII victims found in mass grave

admin — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 00:19:22 +0000

The remains of more than 2,000 German civilians discovered in a mass grave in the town of Malbork in northern Poland have been reburied at a ceremony at one of the country’s German military cemeteries on Friday.

The victims are believed to have been caught up in the Russian army’s offensive in what was then the German province of East Prussia in the final stages of World War II; a province split between Poland and Russia after the war.

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