In an interview with the FAKT tabloid, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Commission in the European Parliament, argues that the problems in the financial markets should cement the European Union rather than enhance disintegration trends.
Press reviewed by Michal Kubicki.
On the E.U.’s environmental plans, DZIENNIK writes that the Polish prime minister’s firm ‘No’ to the idea of expanding Europe’s emissions trading system is bringing positive results. The daily says that France came up with the idea of allowing countries like Poland at least half of the carbon dioxide emissions allowances to be handed out free for the next eight years. According to DZIENNIK, the proposal does not satisfy the Polish government. This is the first instance of Prime Minister Tusk threatening a veto on the E.U. forum. The French president will most probably go out of his way to avoid this. A week ago, Tusk lifted Warsaw’s opposition to the resumption of EU-Russia talks, thanks to which president Sarkozy could announce that EU-Russia relations are again in excellent shape. Now, the Polish Prime Minister is waiting for the French to return the favour, DZIENNIK concludes.
On a related topic, the SUPER EXPRESS tabloid criticizes the French president for ignoring the principle of European unity. According to Wlodzimierz Marciniak, a prominent expert on Eastern Europe, the latest EU-Russia summit was in fact a French-Russian summit, with president Sarkozy acting as a spokesman for French rather than European interests.
The Met has finally come to Warsaw, writes GAZETA WYBORCZA, inviting opera fans to one of the city’s cinemas this Saturday for a live transmission of Hector Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faustus. As of the last season, transmissions of Met productions can be seen in Lodz, this year opera lovers in Krakow and Rzeszow are offered the same treat. GAZETA WYBORCZA thinks that in Warsaw too the transmissions of top-quality productions will prove a great success.
In their cultural columns, several dailies write about the worldwide career of Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, who turns 75 on Sunday. DZIENNIK’s music critic describes him as one of the most controversial composers of the 20th century. By achieving unprecedented international recognition, Penderecki has fulfilled his goal. The question remains as to whether he will go down in history as a prophet of great synthesis in music of the 21st century or as the last master of an already-historic musical world.