No State representative for Polish President State Funeral
Gerald Fenech
Malta will not be sending a representative for today’s state funeral of Polish President Lech Kachynski who was tragically killed in a plane crash last week, MaltaToday can reveal.
A cursory look at the guest list for the funeral, published by the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, shows that 79 countries had forwarded the names of their representatives by Friday afternoon. But there was no mention of Malta in the list.
Other dignitaries who have confirmed their attendance are French President Nikolas Sarkozy, EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and newly elected European Council President Hermann van Rompuy.
Incidentally, Poland is still without a Maltese ambassador since Gaetan Naudi resigned from his position December 2009, after less than a year in the post. Former President Fenech Adami had also made a state visit to Poland in January 2009 and had met the late President Lech Kaczynski.
“In December 2009 Gaetan Naudi sent us Maltese living in Poland an email saying that he was stepping down and returning to Malta after less than a year. Since then I have heard nothing about a new ambassador. I understand that Malta has had no ambassador in the country for the last four months so Malta can’t even send its ambassador to represent the country”, a Maltese national who resides in Poland told this newspaper.
The funeral could still be delayed however due to the immense cloud of volcanic ash from the volcano eruption in Iceland which has played havoc with air travel all over Europe.
Any comments?
If you wish your comments to be published in our Letters pages please click button below. Please write a contact number and a postal address where you may be contacted.
Search:
MALTATODAY
BUSINESSTODAY
Download MaltaToday Sunday issue front page in pdf file format
