Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Wednesday showered the European Parliament with strawberries from his home region of Kaszuby - saying that their "freshness and energy" would be a symbol for his country's European Union presidency, dpa reported. Poland took over the bloc's six-month rotating presidency from Hungary on July 1. Tusk travelled to the EU assembly in Strasbourg, France, to illustrate his plans. "I hear that these strawberries are the best in the world, and there is no better way to promote Poland's EU presidency," he told a news conference, during which he munched on the fruit. Poland would instill "freshness and energy" into the EU, like the "freshness and the energy embodied in these strawberries," Tusk promised. Earlier he told lawmakers that, despite the eurozone's debt woes and disputes over migration, the EU "is the best place to live in the world," as demonstrated by the "millions" of outsiders who would like to join the bloc. "At this time of crisis we can inject political enthusiasm and political optimism into the EU," Tusk said, pledging to fight against protectionism and defend the Schengen border-free agreement. Tusk bristled at Denmark for reintroducing border controls, and criticized the political decision to keep Bulgaria and Romania out of Schengen, which overruled the fact that they had met the technical criteria for membership. The Polish leader even said that the problems of nearly-bankrupt Greece were "relatively trivial," set against the wider context of the EU's achievements. -- SPA
