Global General

EP president expects better Poland after crash

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-04-13 23:37

WARSAW - Polish-born European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek said on Tuesday that he hopes for a better Poland after an air crash killed Polish president on Saturday.

Buzek said the late Polish President Lech Kaczynski, who died in a plane crash that also killed a list of notable Poles in western Russia, "had stood for Polish historical awareness" but "the priority should be the future."

"We must draw our lessons from the past, also its most terrible moments, and then turn with optimism in tomorrow," he said.

Buzek said he hoped "the deep-going political debates" around the disaster would help to bring about a better Poland, adding that at this time Poland must think about common benefits.

"Poland will have to cope with the consequences," Buzek said, stressing that Poland's membership in the EU and NATO was "very important" as the two offer a solid security mechanism to the Central European country.

The tragedy of the air crash also opened the door to a Polish-Russian dialogue, Buzek said, adding that "everything that (Russian President) Medvedev and (Russian Prime Minister) Putin have done for our country in these hours is important."

Kaczynski, his wife Maria and 94 others died in an air crash on Saturday near Smolensk, western Russia.

The delegation was en route to anniversary celebrations marking the 1940 Katyn Massacre in which Soviet security forces executed 22,000 Polish officers.