Poland laid to rest the body of its president in an emotional ceremony in Krakow on Sunday 19 May 2010.

In an act perhaps indicative of a new, closer bond the accident has forged between Poland and Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian president, defied the ash by flying into Krakow. Other mourners included Czech President Vaclav Klaus; Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic; Slovenian President Danilo Turk; Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych; Latvian President Valdis Zatlers, President Dalia Grybauskaitė; Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Andrus Ansip; Romanian President Traian Basescu; Hungarian President Lazslo Solyom, PM Gordon Bajnai.

Speaking to Polish television shortly before boarding his plane back to Moscow, Medvedev said: “In views of these heavy losses I believe we can make serious efforts to draw our nations closer together, to develop economic relations and find solutions to the most difficult problems, including Katyn.”

After a solemn mass, gun carriages bore the coffins of Kaczynski and his wife Maria, draped in the red-and-white national flag, through winding streets to their final resting place in Wawel Cathedral high above Poland’s ancient capital.

An estimated 150,000 Poles lines the streets, chanting “Lech Kaczynski, we thank you” and waving flags and banners of the 1980s anti-communist Solidarity movement which the combative nationalist and devout Roman Catholic president once helped to build.Their coffins were then laid to rest in the cathedral’s crypt — a hallowed spot for Poles usually reserved for their kings, leading poets and national heroes.

We will note that the President of the Czech Republic Vaclav Klaus has fiercely criticized EU officials for not turning out for president Lech Kaczynski’s funeral.

“The fact that Canada’s Prime Minister or Australia’s Governor-General did not attend the funeral is fairly understandable. But it is absolutely unforgivable that some European leaders and officials from Brussels did not come to the funeral”, Klaus told the Czech Radio. “It is a proof that solidarity within the EU is just an empty word,” added the Czech President.

Dozens of foreign delegations attended the funeral of Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria in the historic city of Krakow and remembered the tragic accident in which numerous Polish officials and military commanders died.

Among those who announced their participation in the burial ceremony but cancelled their visit due to volcanic ash cloud which made it impossible for them to fly were the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy.

The only representative of the EU offices at the funeral was a Polish politician Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament.

Slavicis particularly thanks Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip who made the 18-hour drive to the funeral, Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus made the trip by car and train, Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko who left Kiev with his wife at 7 a.m. Saturday for the long road trip and President of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili who came from the US, via several European countries to attend the funerals and the PM of Morocco who came…