BLBG:Romney Cites Polish Economy As Model To Exit Euro Crisis
Mitt Romney, wrapping up a six-day international trip clouded by criticism, praised Polish “free enterprise” as a model to help Europe solve its debt crisis.
“As some wonder about the way forward out of economic recession and fiscal crisis, the answer is to ‘Look to Poland,’” Romney planned to say today in a speech at the University of Warsaw, according to advanced excepts released by his campaign.
The address, an effort by the Republican presidential candidate to refocus his message in the final hours of his three-country tour, cited Poland’s opposition to “the false promise of a government-dominated economy” as an inspiration to him and other Americans. The country’s economy expanded 4.3 percent in 2011, among the fastest in the European Union.
Romney, who has largely avoided the media during the trip, has refused to publicly discuss criticism of his remarks on the Olympics and the Middle East that has accompanied the journey. His aides shut down questions shouted by journalists today as Romney visited a military memorial in the Polish capital.
Palestinian Rebuke
Yesterday, the former Massachusetts governor and private- equity executive drew a rebuke from Palestinian officials angry with his comments during a Jerusalem fundraising breakfast that suggested cultural reasons explained the “vitality” of Israel’s economy and the financial straits of the West Bank.
That criticism came after Romney’s questioning of the U.K.’s readiness to manage the Olympic Games riled his hosts in London at the start of his trip.
In Poland, Romney didn’t try to explain his remarks. “Our friendship spans the centuries and is built by our common values and love of freedom,” he told reporters after a morning meeting with Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.
Hundreds of cheering Poles greeted Romney yesterday when he arrived at the old town hall in Gdansk, a port town that was the birthplace of the Polish Solidarity movement.
“This is like a rally in the U.S.,” said Romney’s wife, Ann, as she waved to the crowd.
Several hours later, Romney received an endorsement from former President Lech Walesa, praise that could resonate with Polish-American voters in swing states like Ohio.
“I wish you to be successful,” Walesa said through a translator. “Governor Romney -- be successful!”
Romney has called Russia, Poland’s historic enemy, America’s “No. 1 geopolitical foe” and accused Obama of a “sudden abandonment” of Poland because the president delayed - - and then revived -- plans for a missile-defense system in Eastern Europe.
In his speech today, Romney was set to criticize Russian leaders, saying their “once-promising advances toward a free and open society have faltered.”
Missile Defense
Poles, who see missile defense as a bulwark against a possible return of Russian aggression, had invested great effort in agreeing to the plan proposed by President George W. Bush. The White House announcement that it wouldn’t move forward with the plan came on Sept. 17, 2009, 70 years to the day after the Soviet Union invaded eastern Poland two weeks after Nazi Germany attacked from the west.
Walesa told Poland’s news station TVN24 that he was deeply disappointed.
“The Americans have always only taken care of their own interests, and they have used everyone else,” Walesa said, according to Der Spiegel.
A month later, Vice President Joe Biden said the U.S. would proceed with a smaller project in a new format, called the Phased Adaptive Approach, on the same basic schedule. There’s lingering concern about the missile system, though, because of uncertainty about U.S. defense budget cuts, said Fran Burwell, director of the Program on Transatlantic Relations at the Atlantic Council, a Washington policy group.
Romney is trying to capitalize on those strains, as well as on concerns that a U.S. defense tilt toward Asia would reduce Eastern Europe’s importance to Washington decision makers.
To contact the reporter on this story: Lisa Lerer in Warsaw at llerer@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeanne Cummings at jcummings21@bloomberg.net; Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net
