U bevindt zich op: Home › News › Press releases and news items

Balkenende: 'a dark day for Poland'

News item | 13-04-2010

Speaking on behalf of the Dutch government, Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said he was 'profoundly shocked' by the tragic news that an airplane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski and scores of others had crashed in Russia.

'This was a catastrophe of terrible proportions, for the victims' relatives and for the entire Polish people,' said the Prime Minister. 'A disaster on such a scale is beyond a human being's capacity to understand. We empathise with the nation's grief' on what he called 'a dark day for Poland'.

The aircraft was carrying not only the Polish president but also the first lady, the head of the Polish armed forces, the vice-president of the Polish parliament, the deputy foreign minister and other representatives of the Polish government.

The Polish delegation was travelling to a commemoration of the murder during the Second World War of 20,000 Polish officers in the Katyn forest. 'That adds to the bitterness of this disaster,' said Dr Balkenende.

'I had met Lech Kaczynski many times,' the Prime Minister said. 'In him Poland has lost a distinguished statesman, a resolute defender of his country's interests, and a man who helped Poland put down sturdy roots in Europe.'

The Dutch government has expressed its deepest sympathy with Poland and sent its condolences to the relatives of the victims and the Polish people and government.

See also

• Speech by Prime Minister Balkenende at the memorial service in The Hague, 16 April 2010