Reactions to French leader’s remarks on the missile shield, Warsaw had a Scottish mayor and the Polish production of The Phantom praised by the composer.

Press reviewed by Michal Kubicki
 
DZIENNIK takes French President Sarkozy to task for what he said standing alongside his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev: until a security summit involving Russia, we should not talk about missile or shield deployments which lead to nothing for security. With US plans to locate missile interceptors in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic approved in bilateral agreements, it is inadmissible for Sarkozy to pronounce such views without consultation with Warsaw and Prague. DZIENNIK writes that Sarkozy spoke in Nice not as a representative of the European Union but as a typical ‘old-style’ leader of France, a country in which a pro-Russian stance is still going strong, prefers bilateral talks with Russia and is not interested in such notions as European solidarity or EU’s Eastern policy. The daily is also critical of the Polish government, which, unlike the Czech one, did not react strongly enough to the words of the French president.

In an interview with the tabloid SUPER EXPRESS, an expert in Polish-American relations, Zbigniew Lewicki, expresses the hope that Washington will extend visa free travel to Poland by the spring of next year at the latest. The current refusal rate of Polish applications is still above the 10 percent threshold, but things go in the right direction.

RZECZPOSPOLITA looks at the results of a report compiled by the University of Leicester in the U.K. It paints a fairly optimistic picture of the heath condition of Poles. In comparison with other Central and Eastern European nations, Poles are more fit and healthier. In recent years, the consumption of animal fats and strong alcoholic beverages went down considerably.

The Warsaw city daily ZYCIE WARSZAWY interviews Linda Fabiani, the Scottish Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture who came to Warsaw to unveil a plaque in tribute to Alexander Chalmers, a Scottish immigrant to Poland who was elected Mayor of Warsaw four times in the 17th century. He also served as parliamentary deputy and secretary to the Polish King. Linda Fabiani told ZYCIE WARSZAWY that Poles and Scots have many things in common and find a common language easily. ‘I am delighted with the fact that so many Poles moved to Scotland recently and treat is as their second homeland’, she said.

Finally, RZECZPOSPOLITA has a brief report on a surprise visit to Warsaw of Andrew Lloyd Webber to see the production of The Phantom of the Opera at the city’s Roma Music Theatre. Wojciech Kepczynski, the company’s Artistic Director told the daily that the composer was delighted with the artistic standard of the performance, describing it as the best of all foreign productions of the work. Most of them are the replicas of the show’s London premiere. The one in Warsaw is the so-called non-replica production. Webber’s words of praise are therefore all the more appreciated.