Schroeder embroiled in ceremony row

THE leader of a Polish opposition party has criticised plans for German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to speak at ceremonies marking the 1944 Warsaw Uprising against Nazi occupation, saying it was inappropriate for a German leader to attend.

“Gerhard Schroeder should not be coming to the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising,” Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the head of the Law and Justice party, said. “It’s debatable whether Germans in general should even take part in such events.”

The German leader was invited by the government to attend the August 1 ceremony commemorating the beginning of the revolt.