Poland will probably be among the 10 new member-states to be welcomed into the EU during the Irish presidency next May, the President, Mrs McAleese, told members of the Irish community at a reception in Warsaw last night.
The President starts her two-day state visit to Poland this morning when she will be welcomed at the presidential palace by President Aleksander Kwasniewski. It is a busy and highly political time for the Poles. Mrs McAleese's arrival follows quickly after flying visits by Mr Tony Blair, President Bush and Mr Romano Prodi.
The British Prime Minister and the European Commission President were here mostly on EU business, with Mr Blair looking for a pro-war ally in Europe. The US President was showing thanks for Poland's support in the Iraq War, discussing the decision to give the former communist state one of the four administrative sectors in post-war Iraq and acknowledging that, despite Polish anti-war feeling, most Poles support the US, which they view as a guarantor of their sovereignty.
This weekend Poland will vote in a referendum on joining the EU. Polls indicate that 60 to 70 per cent are in favour, but a 50 per cent turn-out is necessary.
Mrs McAleese will not be involved inthese topics. Her visit, which includes meeting dignitaries, delivering a lecture to the Polish Institute of International Affairs, laying wreaths and promoting ties, takes her to Warsaw and Lublin. In Lublin she will visit the extermination camp of Majdanek, where more than 360,000 people died between 1941 and 1944, making it the second-largest Nazi camp after Auschwitz-Birkenau.