17 March 2004

Gniezno Congress
A prayer for the victims of the terrorist attacks in Madrid inaugurated the proceedings of the Fifth Gniezno Congress March 12 at noon, under the motto "Europe of Spirit: Christians in the European Integration Process." Over 600 lay and clerical representatives of Christian movements and associations from 15 European countries participated. "In solidarity with the victims of the terrorist attacks, we want to be a sign of hope for Europe and the world," stated Gniezno Metropolitan Archbishop Henryk Muszyński, adding that the three-day Congress is to highlight "the way of the spirit in uniting Europe at this special moment."

Primate of Poland Cardinal Józef Glemp also referred to the terrorist attacks. "The Gniezno Congress has to reach to the conscience of mankind, who will say: enough bloodshed, no more contempt for man, no more hatred.

Glemp stressed that the will to shape a better Europe is close at hand. "All of us here are determined that those who sign documents should not cross out from them the words 'God,' 'Church,' 'faith,' 'morality,'" said Glemp, referring to the proposed, and eminently controversial, preamble to the European Constitution.

President of the Polish Ecumenical Council, Orthodox Archbishop Jeremiah, spoke of the unification of Christians. He stressed that the Fifth Gniezno Congress was an appeal for more work to restore the unity of Christians in the service of people "sent to the margins of public life by mechanisms of political, social and economic life."

Pope John Paul II sent a message to the congress. He warned against the temptation to separate the present day from history and culture from tradition, "and finally politics and economy from spiritual values" in the process of EU enlargement. "Europe of Spirit-this motto accompanies your meetings, testimonies and prayer. I am aware that this motto echoes the words I spoke in Gniezno in 1997: 'there will be no unity of Europe until it becomes united in spirit.'"

Minister for European Affairs Danuta Hübner (pictured above with Archbishop Jeremiah), the future Polish commissioner in Brussels, was the guest of the first day of the congress. "We are entering Europe, of which we already form a part," she said, adding that the process needed constant inspiration, with its source in people's expectations, their vision of the future, awareness of history and feeling of solidarity.

SLD Split Likely
The "group of ten"-the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) politicians who signed the draft resolution "No More Illusions," presented March 6 at the SLD Convention-are considering forming a new left-wing party. The draft resolution was submitted by Sejm Speaker Marek Borowski (pictured below right). Signatories included prominent SLD activists such as Foreign Minister Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, former Treasury Minister Wiesław Kaczmarek, former Deputy Labor Minister Jolanta Banach, former deputy leader of the SLD Andrzej Celiński, and deputies Anna Bańkowska, Izabella Sierakowska, Bogdan Lewandowski, Czesław Pogoda and Jacek Kasprzyk. They demanded that a party congress be convened in May and called upon the SLD deputy leaders to distribute party and government functions. Borowski says that in the crisis period in which the SLD has found itself, many are speaking of building a new leftist party. Borowski has placed on his webpage a questionnaire asking: "Does Poland need a new center-left party?"

Newly elected SLD Chairman Krzysztof Janik (pictured below left), however, does not fear a split. "The Group of Ten is in the party, no one has given up anything, they are working, attending board meetings. We are making changes together, and it shows," said Janik.
Ziobro:

Prime Minister Should Face Tribunal of State
Prime Minister Leszek Miller (pictured above on right) should face the Tribunal of State for accepting the infringement of law in the work on an amendment to the Radio and Television Act. Marek Wagner, head of the prime minister's office, and Aleksandra Jakubowska, head of the prime minister's political cabinet, should also face punishment, according to Zbigniew Ziobro of Law and Justice (PiS) (pictured above on left), a member of the Sejm commission investigating the Rywingate scandal. Ziobro presented March 11 part of a report in which he describes the course of the legislative process connected with the amendment. "In the work on the draft amendment, it came to a number of infringements of law-the government work regulations, the act on the Council of Ministers, and the Constitution," said Ziobro, adding that the draft could have been advantageous not so much to the state as to the SLD.
Miller said the accusations put forward by the opposition deputy proved his "unimaginable ignorance" of the law, including the contents of the Constitution. Sejm Deputy Speaker Tomasz Nałęcz, chairman of the Sejm special investigation commission, who in recent weeks has repeatedly appealed to commission members to concentrate on producing a final document rather than grandstanding before the media with their own versions of the report, also expressed indignation over the manner in which Ziobro presented his revelations.

Samoobrona Wins Support
Had parliamentary elections taken place late in February, the winner would have been the Civic Platform (PO)-29 percent, followed by Samoobrona-23 percent, the SLD-11 percent, and PiS-10 percent, reveals the CBOS polling center. Next come the League of Polish Families (LPR)-9 percent, and the Polish Peasants' Party (PSL)-7 percent. The coalition partner Labor Union (UP), with 3 percent, would have had no chance of entering parliament alone.

The poll reveals that as much as 20 percent of respondents did not know who to vote for. Fifty-three percent would participate in the elections. The poll was conducted Feb. 27-March 3 on a representative sample of 1,458 adult Poles.

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