1. Today the European Commission is supposed to adopt its annual report on the state of relations between the European Union and its partners from the Neighbourhood Policy. The document for the first time will apply to the new policy which we defined last year. And in the so-called meanwhile many things have happened… 2. [...]

If the German Finance Minister Schäuble says that the eurozone would survive Greek exit, it means that such scenarios are no longer the domain of journalists and become a task of practical financiers. Wolfgang Schäuble added that he wants Greece to stay in the eurozone but only on the condition that the country will live [...]

I AM WRITING THIS TEXT IN CAPITALS BECAUSE THE ADDRESSEES OF THE PREVIOUS ONE (published on Wednesday) COULD HAVE SOME DIFFICULTIES READING IT. WHAT ELSE MUST HAPPEN TO MAKE POLISH DIPLOMACY WORK? The previous text – 50 days of travel in a minefield Yesterday, for a couple of hours, strange information was circulating around. It [...]

The cancellation of summit in Yalta is painful for Ukraine. It is a warning before diplomatic isolation. It is not a boycott yet, but it is already an affront. Those who determine standards in this case are the people who did not want to come, and not those who wanted. The only positive thing about [...]

According to the stereotype, Ukraine is divided into pro-Russian East and Pro-European West. I went to Lugansk (it is not possible to go further to the East) to see how much truth there is in this view. I am not able to completely sum up the visit but one thing is certain – none from [...]

No, this time I will not write about Yulia Tymoshenko and Ukraine. Another Julia just invaded the election in the US. And more precisely – 12 Julias. This is the number of images of women included in The Life of Julia, which Barack Obama presents to voters. Looking at the individual images in white background [...]

German policy has focused on EURO 2012. You can hear the call for boycott. More and more politicians declare that they will not participate in the Ukrainian part of the tournament. In addition, they encourage UEFA to withdraw the matches from Ukraine and move them e.g. to Poland, Germany or Austria. I warn politicians, especially [...]

We got used to the impressive results of the Chinese economy. And we are not the only ones. A bit in the shadow of the giant there is Russia, where also interesting things are going on. When Vladimir Putin ended the election festival, he began to speak specifically about the economy. He promised facilities for [...]

My yesterday’s comments on the Polish-Lithuanian relations have aroused great interest of my colleagues Members of the EP Budget Committee. They told me that at this stage of negotiations on the future financial perspective nothing has been decided, and the payers give the impression that they are not rushing to resolve the difficult dilemmas. No [...]

The Polish history after 1989 is very much bound up with the countries that emerged after the transition in Central and Eastern Europe. We cared about good relations with our neighbours, repeatedly boasting about the fact that all the neighbours were new and we did not have any serious conflict with any of them. Something [...]

There is going to be a pretty good scene in the European Parliament. This week we will be discussing and voting on the agreement between the European Union and the United States on the use of Passenger Name Record (PNR). The subject is not new because such an agreement has worked since 2007. Americans have [...]

In the Polish news, in the shadow of the anniversary of the Smolensk tragedy, there is the American struggle for the presidency and behind it – the efforts for the abolition of visas to the United States. Officially, the proud leaders of my country do not ask the Americans for anything, but the practice is [...]

In Belarus it is like in the old joke when the Jew came to the rabbi to complain about the very small one-room house. The rabbi told him to buy a goat and everyone knows what happened next. Lukashenko plays similarly. After winning “elections” he put in prisons several hundreds people and today he releases [...]

Spring in Kiev begins under the sign of the election and the city’s preparation for Euro 2012. The stadium is working, the new bridge at the Dnieper is finished, the escape roads are being repaired and – most important – you can see the building of the new beautiful airport. And what about politics? Here [...]

I will probably return more than once to the “poem by Günter Grass”. Today I would like to say a few words on the reactions in Israel. I disapprove of this work and its political message. However, I find Israel’s reaction unfortunate and counterproductive. I understand that Grass was condemned but the ban on crossing [...]