WARSAW, Dec 19 (Reuters) – The European Commission is
investigating why Poland’s government is refusing to pay dozens
of foreign contractors for work carried out under a
road-building programme worth billions of euros and backed by
Europe.

Should the investigation find Poland’s state institutions
have been at fault, it will deal a severe blow to the reputation
of a country which routinely is held up in Brussels as a model
of the successful use of European Union (EU) development cash.

WARSAW, Nov 16 (Reuters) – If Britain’s Eurosceptic
government decides to vacate its seat at the European Union’s
top table, Poland has many of the credentials needed to take its
place.

At a time when Britain’s ambivalence about Europe is
weakening its influence in the bloc, Poland is riding high with
a robust economy, a vision for itself at the heart of the EU,
and fellow member states who want to make it their partner.

WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland’s Supreme Court opened the way on Monday for a blasphemy verdict against a rock musician who tore up a Bible on stage, a case that has pitted deep Catholic traditions against a new desire for free expression.

Adam Darski, front man with a heavy metal group named Behemoth, ripped up a copy of the Christian holy book during a concert in 2007, called it deceitful and described the Roman Catholic church as “a criminal sect”.

VILNIUS (Reuters) – Lithuania’s opposition prepared to take power on Monday after voters rejected a government that won widespread praise abroad for steering its citizens through the financial crisis with heavy budget cuts.

An ex-Soviet state of about three million people, Lithuania crashed hard when the crisis hit four years ago.

VILNIUS, Oct 15 (Reuters) – Lithuanians rejected a plan to build
a nuclear plant to cut dependence on imports of Russian energy,
in a referendum that does not kill off the project but leaves a
big question mark over its future.

Support for the plant in Lithuania, one of the European
Union states most dependent on imported energy, waned after the
Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan last year.

VILNIUS (Reuters) – Lithuania’s opposition prepared to take power on Monday after voters rejected the austerity-minded government, a foretaste of what may await other European leaders forced to make unpopular cuts by the financial crisis.

An ex-Soviet state of about three million people, Lithuania crashed hard when the crisis hit four years ago. It slashed spending in response and is now returning to economic health – but too late for voters fed up with belt-tightening.

VILNIUS (Reuters) – The leader of the party set to win Lithuania’s parliamentary election said on Sunday there could be a case for letting the Baltic state’s budget deficit rise above the ceiling set out under European Union rules.

Lithuania has been held up as a model of fiscal discipline inside the European Union after it responded to the banking crisis with tough austerity measures and kept its deficit within the threshold of 3 percent of gross domestic product.

VILNIUS (Reuters) – Lithuanians voted out their government in an election on Sunday, an exit poll showed, in a taste of what may await other European leaders forced by the financial crisis to implement unpopular austerity measures.

An ex-Soviet state of about three million people, Lithuania crashed hard when the crisis hit four years ago. It made tough budget cuts in response and is now returning to economic health – but too late for voters fed up with belt-tightening.

VILNIUS (Reuters) – Lithuanians are likely to eject their center-right government in an election on Sunday that could be a taste of what awaits other European leaders forced by the financial crisis to implement unpopular austerity measures.

An ex-Soviet state of 3.5 million people, Lithuania crashed hard when the crisis hit four years ago. It made tough budget cuts in response and is now returning to economic health – but too late for voters fed up with belt-tightening.