Miller links EU accession with patriotism as new forum gets under way

Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said yesterday that for the first time Poland has the chance to influence the decisions affecting the future of our continent. Cimoszewicz was speaking at the first ever session of a new forum, known as "Together on the Future of Europe", intended as a platform for debate on the future of the European Union (EU) and Poland's role in it. Prime Minister Leszek Miller, who also attended yesterday's inaugural session, commented, "Poland's accession to the Union is a measure of Polish contemporary patriotism, since it will decide the future level of our civilization." President Aleksander Kwasniewski said, "Europe has to ask itself a question: does it want to be heading in the direction of creating the United States of Europe or stopping its radical federalism." According to the president the future of Europe is not in federation but in a Europe of nations. The forum will convene every two months. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A3) P.W.