Former president Lech Walesa has denied press reports that he will spend the anniversary of the fall of communism with the euroscpetic Libertas party in Paris, instead Prime Minister Tusk in Krakow.  

“I swear to God that the press is lying,” said Walesa. He assured that he will take part in the official celebrations on 4 June in Krakow “if the PM insists.”

The Dziennik daily wrote that Walesa’s decision to celebrate the anniversary of the fall of communism in 1989 in the company of Declan Ganley, the founder of Libertas, instead of Donald Tusk and the Polish government is a serious blow to the Prime Minister. 

Walesa said he will timetable with Ganley exactly when he will meet him but he is still committed to the events in Poland. “The PM has got in my bad books because he pretends I didn’t tell him about my meeting with Ganley. But I did, I’m not lying, it is the PM who isn’t telling the truth,” said Walesa.  

The former president and leader of Solidarity has come in for criticism for his continuing involvement with the anti-Lisbon Treaty Libertas party ahead of the elections for the European Parliament on June 7. Walesa has attended party conventions for Libertas, where he is said to have received substantial appearance money.

Walesa also attended the manifesto launch of the European People’s Party in Warsaw, which was attended by Donald Tusk and many of the christian-democrat leaders in Europe.

“The fact that my father takes part in Libertas conventions doesn’t mean he supports Libertas,” explained Walesa’s son Jaroslaw in Dziennik. “Only if he appeared on Libertas’ advertisements would it be over the top."  (mg/pg)