Poland blames Russia over crash

29 July 2011 Last updated at 16:44 GMT The crash near Smolensk killed all those on board A Polish report has found that Russia was partly to blame for the air crash last year which killed then-President Lech Kaczynski.

It said that pilot error was the main reason for the crash, but that air controllers and poor lighting at Smolensk were also at fault.

Poland's Defence Minister Bogdan Klich resigned in the wake of the report.

The crash killed 96 people and has been a source of tension between the two countries.

A Russian report released in January laid full blame on Poland.

But Poland, while accepting some of the findings, said that Moscow's report was "incomplete".

All those on board the TU-154 Tupolev, who included officials spanning the country's military and political elite, were killed when their airliner crashed while trying to land in heavy fog.

They had been on their way to a memorial for the victims of Katyn, where 20,000 Polish officers were massacred by Soviet forces in 1940.

'Erroneous information'

The report by Warsaw said the pilot had lacked experience in landing aircraft in adverse weather conditions, and the crew was not adequately equipped.

Russia was commended for its sensitivity after the crash, but relations later deteriorated

It also found that airport lighting was "defective and incomplete", while a landing zone official had given "erroneous information" to the crew as they prepared to land in poor weather at the Russian city of Smolensk.

Air traffic controllers misinformed the crew about their true altitude during the approach and gave a crucial warning too late, it said.

In its report earlier this year, Russia had said the crash was due to pilot error and said the crew had taken unjustified risks under pressure from their superiors.

However, the Polish report said there was no evidence that Lech Kaczynski or anyone else on board had put pressure on the pilots to act against their wishes.

An official with the Russian committee which investigates air disasters said "the fundamental part" of the conclusions in the Polish report agreed with his own committee's findings.

But the official, Alexei Morozov, said they could not understand the Polish finding that the flight's crew was not influenced by senior officials in the cockpit.

Russia's handling of the disaster had originally been widely commended, but the issue later became a source of contention between the two nations.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he had accepted the resignation of Mr Klich in the wake of the report's criticism of the crew.

Tomasz Siemoniak, a deputy interior minister, has replaced Mr Klich, Mr Tusk told reporters.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the twin brother of the late president and opposition politician, has previously accused Mr Tusk's government of a cover-up with Moscow. Mr Tusk strongly denies the claims.

Poland's first couple - along with other leading political and military figures - had been on their way to a memorial ceremony for the World War II Katyn massacre when the crash took place on 10 April. There were no survivors.

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Poland takes over EU presidency

1 July 2011 Last updated at 15:14 GMT Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk (right) unfurled the EU flag in Warsaw with his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban Poland has taken over the rotating presidency of the EU for the first time since it joined the bloc in 2004.

Its priorities for the six-month term include building relations with the EU's eastern and southern neighbours, and strengthening the EU single market.

Poland, enjoying an economic growth rate of about 3.5%, also says it wants to promote further EU enlargement.

Croatia has completed its accession negotiations and is on track to become the EU's 28th member state in mid-2013.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk hopes that the EU presidency will boost his Civic Platform party and help it retain power in national elections in October.

The rotating presidency is less powerful than in the past, now that the EU has a full-time President of the European Council - Herman Van Rompuy - and a foreign policy chief, Baroness Ashton.

Eastern partners

At a handover ceremony in Warsaw, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban presented Mr Tusk with a cask of wine, receiving a sabre as a gift in return.

Poland is marking its new EU role with special concerts and fireworks on Friday.

The BBC's Adam Easton in Warsaw says Poland wants to portray itself as a regional power with ideas worth heeding, with perhaps chief among them a focus on the bloc's eastern neighbours.

It hopes an "Eastern Partnership" summit in September, gathering leaders from the EU and six former Soviet nations, will give the initiative new impetus, and wants to conclude negotiations on a free trade agreement with Ukraine.

Another priority will be trying to help the EU in its efforts to manage the sovereign debt crisis threatening Greece and the eurozone.

Poland has not adopted the euro, but has strong trade links with eurozone countries.

The eurozone has put in place a new budget surveillance mechanism to help contain the Greek debt crisis and prevent anything similar in future.

The outgoing head of the European Central Bank (ECB), Jean-Claude Trichet, told Euro MPs on Thursday that "crisis prevention is absolutely of the essence".

EU member states need to keep a close watch on each other's unit labour costs, competitiveness and budget imbalances, he said.

Opinion divided

Differences about how best to tackle Europe's economic challenges are expected to emerge during the start of negotiations over the EU's next long-term budget.

Poland argues that a bigger budget will encourage growth throughout the bloc.

Countries that have introduced austerity programmes or are net contributors to EU finances, such as Germany and the UK, want a smaller budget.

Environmentalists have expressed concern that Poland, which relies heavily on coal for energy supplies, will be reluctant to support a green agenda.

Poland, with a population of 38 million, is the largest country to join the EU since its expansion in 2004.

It is the fourth former communist state to hold the EU presidency, after Slovenia in 2008, the Czech Republic in 2009, and Hungary in the first half of 2011.

Recent surveys suggest that backing for EU membership within Poland stands at more than 80%.

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Poland

A nation with a proud cultural heritage, Poland can trace its roots back over 1,000 years. Positioned at the centre of Europe, it has known turbulent and violent times.

There have been periods of independence as well as periods of domination by other countries. Several million people, half of them Jews, died in World War II.

A new era began when Poland became an EU member in May 2004, five years after joining Nato and 15 years after the end of communist rule.

It was the birthplace of the former Soviet bloc's first officially recognised independent mass political movement when strikes at the Gdansk shipyard in August 1980 led to agreement with the authorities on the establishment of the Solidarity trade union.

The shoots of political freedom were trampled again 16 months later when communist leader Wojciech Jaruzelski declared martial law. But the movement for change was irreversible. Elections in summer 1989 ushered in eastern Europe's first post-communist government.

The presence in the Vatican of Polish Pope John-Paul II was an important influence on the Solidarity movement throughout the 1980s. The Roman Catholic church remains a very potent force in Polish life.

Warsaw has weathered wars and occupation

In the years between the end of communism and EU accession, power in Poland switched between the centre right and the centre left. Successive governments faced sleaze allegations.

The country has had some success in creating a market economy and attracting foreign investment. There has been a massive movement of workers to western Europe.

Poland still has a huge farming sector which is unwieldy and very inefficient. Poverty is particularly widespread in rural areas.

Warsaw's profile on the international stage was raised by its support for the US-led military campaign in Iraq. A Polish-led international force, including 2,500 Polish troops, took on peacekeeping responsibilities in south-central Iraq in September 2003.

Despite public criticism of the deployment, the conservative government elected in 2005 reversed the previous administration's plan to pull the troops out in early 2006.

Full name: Republic of Poland Population: 38.0 million (UN, 2010) Capital: Warsaw Area: 312,685 sq km (120,728 sq miles) Major language: Polish Major religion: Christianity Life expectancy: 72 years (men), 80 years (women) (UN) Monetary unit: 1 zloty = 100 groszy Main exports: Machinery and transport equipment, foodstuffs, chemicals GNI per capita: US $12,260 (World Bank, 2009) Internet domain: .pl International dialling code: +48

President: Bronislaw Komorowski

President Komorowski is an ally of the Prime Minister

Bronislaw Komorowski, the speaker of parliament, became acting president on the death of President Lech Kaczynski in a plane crash in April 2010. He defeated Mr Kaczynski's twin brother and former prime minister, Jaroslaw, in the July second round of the presidential election.

A leading figure in the centre-right Civic Platform party, Mr Komorowski has served in several post-Communist governments since 1989, including a term as defence minister in 2000-2001.

He became speaker in 2007, and Civic Platform adopted him as its candidate for the presidential elections due in the autumn of 2010. These were brought forward to June-July on the death of President Kaczynski.

Born in 1952 and an historian by profession, Mr Komorowski was active in the anti-Communist civil rights movement from the 1970s.

Prime Minister: Donald Tusk

Donald Tusk formed a coalition between his centre-right Civic Platform and the centrist Peasants Party after the parliamentary elections of October 2007.

Donald Tusk wants better relations with the EU

The early elections were forced by the collapse of the right-wing coalition led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the identical twin of the then president Lech Kaczynski.

Mr Tusk has promised to end the regular sparring with the rest of the European Union, and with neighbouring Germany in particular, which marked the rule of Mr Kaczynski's Law and Justice-led goverment.

He has also promised to improve Poland's often tense relations with Russia.

Poland's broadcasting market is the largest in Eastern and Central Europe and has attracted foreign investment. There is freedom and diversity of information, although laws against deriding the nation and its political system are still in force.

Public TVP has the largest share of the TV audience for its two national channels. It operates regional services and satellite network TV Polonia.

There are proposals to fund public broadcasting from the state budget, rather than the TV and radio licence fee.

Polsat and TVN operate the leading commercial TVs. Polsat has a digital pay-TV platform and is present in the Baltic states. Digital pay-TV platform Cyfra+ was launched by France's Canal+. Digital terrestrial TV is expected to offer up to 30 channels.

Public Polish Radio reaches just over half of the population. There are more than 200 radio stations in all.

There are more than 300 newspapers, most of them local or regional. However, fewer than 30% of Poles read any kind of newspaper. The press is almost completely privatised and foreign ownership is high. The biggest-selling daily is the Fakt tabloid.

There were 22.5 million internet users in Poland by June 2010 - around 58% of the population (Internetworldstats).

The press

Television

Telewizja Polska (TVP) - public, operates two national networks, regional services and international satellite channel TV Polonia TVN - commercial, also operates news channel TVN 24 Polsat - commercial channel and pay-TV operator Cyfra+ - pay-TV operator

Radio

Polish Radio - public, operates five national networks and many regional stations TheNews.pl - Polish Radio's news site, in English RMF FM - commercial Radio Zet - commercial Radio Maryja - controversial Catholic station, run by Redemptorist Order

News agency

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