Polish Premier Praises French President’s Reaction to Bus Crash

Text of report in English by Polish news agency PAP

Warsaw, 24 July: Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has said that the reaction of the French side after the accident of a Polish bus near Grenoble was “extraordinary”. President Sarkozy’s attitude was exceptional for he did everything that went beyond the protocol and his official duty, Jaroslaw Kaczynski told Radio One on Tuesday [24 July].

“President Nicolas Sarkozy’s attitude was quite exceptional because of what he had done; to begin with sending the prime minister to the catastrophe site to end with his visit to Grenoble and a welcome granted to President Lech Kaczynski at the airport,” the prime minister said.

In his opinion all this “went beyond the protocol and duty. He (the French president – ed) is truly a person who gets involved in Polish-French relations, this is very significant and, to a certain extent, he helped organize the action, he helped the injured for all were able to see that this was something that was important not only to the Polish authorities but also to the highest French authorities,” Jaroslaw Kaczynski said.

“I know from my brother that President Sarkozy personally issued different type of orders in a hospital, of course not medically- related. “He is truly involved in making relations with Poland even more friendly,” the PM stressed.

The bus carried mostly elderly people, from north-west Poland who wanted to visit all Marian shrines in western Europe. The bus plunged into the Isere river valley from the so called Napoleone route (route Napolion) on Sunday morning killing 26 and injuring 24. The route is closed to buses.

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