Founder of the Solidarity Labor Union, Nobel Peace Prize winner

and former Polish President Lech Wałęsa hold hands with Anne

and Mitt Romney in Gdansk, Poland, July 30.

Walesa on Romney: 'We are Alike' (Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland)

"Mr. Romney has a sense of humor; he's sociable, professes similar values, is very close to his wife, and has five children. We are alike and are looking for similar solutions. This meeting gave me an idea of what direction the U.S. would take if Romney wins. But I'm not endorsing him."

Polish News Agency

Translated By Agnieszka Gosiewska

July 31, 2012

Poland - Gazeta Wyborcza - Original Article (Polish)

Mitt and Anne Romney after laying laying flowers at the World War II Memorial on the Westerplatte in Gdansk, Poland, July 31. BBC NEWS VIDEO: Mitt Romney ends his overseas tour in Poland, which suggests that he might be a 'spikey, undiplomatic' president, July 31, 00:25:14

On Monday, Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate for the U.S. presidency, met with Prime Minister Donald Tusk and former President Lech Wałęsa.

Romney arrived in Poland at the invitation of Lech Wałęsa. It has been widely commented that the meeting was a sly dig directed at President Barack Obama, whose meeting with Lech Wałęsa during his visit last year never materialized. At the time, the former Solidarity leader had hoped for a personal meeting with President Obama, not just one among a group of other Polish politicians.

Posted by Worldmeets.US

Romneys visit to Poland began with a meeting with the head of government [Prime Minister Donald Tusk]. Before entering the Town Hall in Gdansk, the crowd acknowledged Romney, and the American politician took a few minutes to chat with the locals.

But upon leaving his meeting with Prime Minister Tusk, Mr. Romney was greeted by a group of citizens with shouts of, "Obama! Obama!" In the crowd, one could also see banners such as, "Mitt Will Say Anything to Get Elected."

Pro-Obama Poles meet Mitt Romney in Gdansk, July 30.

[Click for Slide Show of Anti-Romney demonstration from Demotix]

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The meeting with Mr. Tusk took over an hour. Just before 5pm in Artus Court, the American politician began his meeting with Wałęsa. This was the highlight of his visit to Poland, as it might appeal to American voters.

Both Tusk and Wałęsa stressed before meeting with Romney that they want to know Romneys views on Europe and Poland.

"It was a good meeting - over an hour-long," said Lech Wałęsa. "Mr. Romney has a sense of humor; he's sociable, professes similar values, is very close to his wife, and has five children. We are alike and are looking for similar solutions. This meeting gave me an idea of what direction the U.S. would take if Romney wins. But I'm not endorsing him. It would be unseemly and inappropriate to interfere in U.S. domestic affairs. He promised that if he wins, he will invite me for a long conversation." The politicians didn't discuss visas or the missile defense system, because, as the former president said, these topics "are too complicated."

After leaving Artus Court, Romney visited two important memorials in Gdansk. Accompanied by Gdansk Mayor Paweł Adamowicz and Museum of the Second World War Director Paweł Machcewicz, he laid a wreath at Westerplatte, where the first shots in defense of the homeland during World War II were fired. He then returned to the center of Gdansk to lay flowers at the Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers of 1970. In the evening he flew to Warsaw. On Tuesday morning in Belweder, Mr. Romney is to meet President Bronisław Komorowski and later with Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski. The likely Republican U.S. presidential nominee also plans to deliver a speech entitled The U.S.-Poland Relationship and the Values Of Liberty" at the University of Warsaw. The U.S. politician also laid flowers at monuments to the Warsaw uprising and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

During his foreign tour, in addition to Poland, Mitt Romney also visited Great Britain and Israel.

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