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German President Addresses Polish Parliament

April 30, 2004
https://p.dw.com/p/4yiF

Johannes Rau became the first German head of state to address the two houses of the Polish Parliament on Friday, the eve of Poland's entry to the European Union. The 73-year-old German president, who has visited Poland a record six times during his five-year term which ends in June this year, said that worries still existed in both countries about what the European Union's eastward expansion will bring. But Rau stressed that the doubts could still be overcome and that EU expansion would be a "success story" for both countries. He added that both Germany and Poland needed to make an effort to put the past behind and begin a dialogue "in the spirit of reconciliation and good neighborliness." Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said Rau "isn't just a good German, but also a wonderful friend of Poland's."