Brussels, 31/08/2000 (Agence Europe) - On 30th August, the French Presidency issued the following declaration (unofficial translation) on behalf of the European Union:
"The European Union welcomes the twentieth anniversary of the Gdansk agreements which marked, on 31 August 1980, the first acknowledgement by a Soviet bloc country of a free trade union. The event was immediately seen in the East, as in the West, as a great hope for freedom and democracy. It was the start of a process which, nine years and harsh trials and tribulations later, allowed democracy to be reestablished in Poland. It also had an influence on the other countries of Central and Eastern Europe and opened the road to Europe's reunification process to which we are today committed".