Poland still lacks detail on missile shield after Biden visit

Oct 22, 2009, 16:32 GMT

Warsaw - US Vice President Joe Biden's visit to Poland this week was important symbolically - but offered no concrete details on the new missile shield proposal, commentators said Thursday.

Poland's largest daily, the Gazeta Wyborcza, said the trip by Biden had 'wiped away the bad image' left by the sudden scrapping of the defence project, but complained that 'there are still no details on the project now based on SM-3 missiles.'

Longin Pastusiak, deputy head of the Democratic Left Alliance, said Biden's visit was symbolic and he was not expecting 'serious decisions.'

The trip was more about boosting Obama's reputation in Central Europe, the daily said, after the US not only backed out of the previous missile system, but also showed a 'lack of interest' in recent ceremonies in Poland that marked the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II.

Biden held a briefing Wednesday after his meeting with Tusk, and another later after meeting Kaczynski, but journalists were not invited to ask questions at either.

Law and Justice MP Karol Karski complained the pair deliberately avoided questions.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Wednesday that Poland was ready to participate in the new US missile shield project, and called it 'interesting (and) necessary' during Biden's two-day visit to the former Soviet bloc.

But criticism came from opposition party Law and Justice, with MP Elzbieta Jakubiak advising Warsaw to use 'fewer tender words and ... more details' in dealing with Washington.

Obama's decision to opt for a more advanced system for meeting short- and medium-range threats was welcomed by Russia, which had viewed the long-range system as a threat to its nuclear deterrent.

But Polish officials were more critical, saying the decision should not have been announced the day of the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland in World War II.