Taoiseach Meets Polish Prime Minister Tusk

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

03 March 2008

Ireland's Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, concluded his European visit on Thursday with a meeting with Prime Minister Donald Tusk. While in Warsaw the Taoiseach also paid a call upon President Lech Kaczynski and attended a reception at the Irish Embassy for representatives of the local Irish-Polish business community.

The meeting with Prime Minister Tusk was reportedly a useful one, and allowed an opportunity to review recent and rapid developments in bilateral relations between Ireland and Poland since Poland acceded to the European Union in 2004, including the growth of the Polish community in Ireland and the growing commercial links.

Discussions with Prime Minister Tusk also covered current EU economic and foreign policy issues, including the ratification of the Reform Treaty.

The two Prime Ministers agreed on the importance of national taxation as a tool in economic development, and discussed the widespread opposition within both Ireland and Poland to harmonisation of the corporate tax base across the Union.

The Taoiseach and Prime Minister Tusk also discussed the state of play with regard to the WTO talks, stressing the need for the EU to ensure that any deal is balanced and does not sacrifice their agriculture sectors.

Prior to his visit to Poland, Mr Ahern also visited Slovenia and Austria, where, amongst other issues, he discussed the package of measures recently proposed by the European Commission to promote energy savings and combat climate change, and the renewal of the Lisbon Agenda, which is designed to promote job creation and economic growth.

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