The motion for displaying the twelve-star blue flag in the Sejm's assembly room was made by the Democratic Left Alliance (
SLD) - back in May last year, to commemorate the fourth anniversary of Poland's accession.
'I saw such flags in other member states' parliaments and I think we should have one too to emphasise our membership,' says Joanna Szymanek-Deresz (SLD).
'We wanted to display two flags: the Polish one, and the EU one on the speaker's left, near the vase with flowers. Perhaps, having them in front of their eyes, the deputies would debate more matter-of-factly, remembering that it's not only our yard we operate on' adds Ms Szymanek-Deresz.
Time is passing, the fifth anniversary of Poland's accession is nearing, and the flag is still not there. Ms Szymanek-Deresz: 'To this day I've received no written reply. I was only told unofficially that an EU flag would be out of tune with the room's décor.'
'The matter was discussed by the Council of Senior Members and was left unsolved. But there is an EU flag in the Sejm - in the speaker's office,' says Krzysztof Luft, director of the Sejm's press office.
Why cannot one be displayed in the assembly room?
Mr Luft: 'The last thing we'd want is a controversy over this. And for some it could be controversial. Besides, it isn't clear where exactly such a flag should hang. It could, however, be flown in front of the parliament buildings.'
Ms Szymanek-Deresz says the SLD will not follow in the footsteps of Solidarity Elections Action (AWS) deputy Tomasz Wójcik, who in 1997 secretly, at night, hung a cross in the assembly room - falling off a ladder in the process, in fact.
Translated by Marcin Wawrzyńczak
