Poland's president is free to attend European Union meetings, the constitutional tribunal said today, in a ruling unlikely to resolve a long-running feud between the head of state and prime minister, Reuters reported. Prime Minister Donald Tusk had asked the tribunal to decide whether he or his arch rival President Lech Kaczynski should represent Poland at EU summits after a string of sometimes embarrassing incidents involving the two men. The tribunal affirmed the government's right to decide Poland's policy at the summits and said the prime minister presents that policy, but it added: "The president of Poland, as the country's highest ranking representative, may... decide to take part in a particular European Council session," the verdict said. It also urged the president to cooperate at such meetings with the prime minister and relevant government ministers in order "to safeguard unity of actions taken in Poland's name". The feud between Kaczynski, a conservative eurosceptic, and Tusk, whose centre-right coalition wants to adopt the euro in 2012, dates back years and sometimes has a comical side.
