To coincide with the first anniversary of the Smolensk disaster on 10 April, British media have been casting a spotlight on all aspects of Poland with a series of articles and broadcasts.

In its New Europe series, Guardian newspaper journalists went to the Baltic port city of Gdańsk, which “shows an entrepreneurial zeal but economic reconstruction is tough going”, and which is currently the site of a unique project of building a replica of “the only Shakespearian playhouse to have been constructed outside England during the Bard’s lifetime”.

According to the Guardian, Poland’s major challenges ahead are how to deal with the legacy of the recession – a big current account deficit and a black hole in its public finances and how to further upgrade infrastructure when the government is tightening its belt and when funds from the EU become less freely available.

The New Europe series also took Guardian reporters to Swiebodzin, close to the German border, where a 33-metre high statue of Jesus was recently erected.

According to the daily, “the Catholic church is losing its grip on Poland. More than 90 percent of the population consistently identify themselves as Catholic, but the proportion of Poles who go to church every Sunday is 45 percent, compared with nearly 60 percent in the last days of communism”.

The Guardian also quotes Adam Balcer of the think tank DemosEuropa: “Roman Catholicism is part of the national identity and probably, even with secularisation, many people will say they are Catholics. The Roman Catholic faith is still strong among members of our elites,” he says.

Religion is also taken up in an article on cars. In the context of the alarming number of accidents (In 2009 there were 12 deaths on Polish roads for every 100,000 inhabitants, compared with 3.8 in the UK, which has more cars and roads), the Guardian writes that “the Catholic church is so worried about the state of the roads that on Sunday it invited believers to pray for the safety of drivers across Poland. The church has also organised a two-day retreat for drivers where they can reflect upon their attitude when they get behind a wheel.”

Rebuilding Poland

The BBC World Service has also produced a documentary, to be broadcast on 23 April, on how Poland has come to terms, or not, with the Smolensk disaster and the loss of President Lech Kaczynski and many other prominent politicians and military.

Unfortunately the BBC seems a little confused about some of the major details of the crash. The preview of the programme, After the Crash - Rebuilding Poland, says “The Smolensk Air disaster killed nearly 100 people from the polish government and dignitaries, including the then prime minister Lech Kaczyński.”

Donald Tusk, of course, is prime minister and Kaczynski was head of state; and no senior government members died in the disaster - although many prominent politicians from the opposition Law and Justice party and other parties did perish in western Russia. (mk/pg)