Mayor invites top EU official to Warsaw - on day of demo

A spokesman for City Hall has said that it is a long-standing tradition to invite European politicians who have a say on the shape of today’s Europe and who are committed to the closer integration of Europe.

The Schuman Parade is a manifestation of support for the idea of integration and for Poland’s active role in a strong European Union.

Timmermans visited Warsaw on 5 April for talks on the so-called rule-of-law procedure which the European Commission initiated in regard to Poland in the wake of an internal conflict in this country over its Constitutional Tribunal.

Timmermans said he hoped to return to Warsaw in a fortnight to continue dialogue with the Polish authorities.

7 May, the day the city’s mayor would like to see Timmermans in Warsaw, is also the date of a major demonstration planned by the Civic Platform, other opposition groupings and anti-government organisation the Committee for the Defence of Democracy.

Civic Platform leader Grzegorz Schetyna told a press conference in Warsaw that the demonstration will be held under the motto “We are and will be in Europe”.

He said that the opposition would not allow the leader of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party, Jarosław Kaczyński, to "take the country out of the European Union." (mk/pk)