Lech Walesa snubs Obama, fellow Nobel winner
WARSAW (AFP) – Lech Walesa, Poland's Solidarity-era leader, ex-president and 1983 Nobel Peace Prize winner said Friday he would not accept an invitation to meet fellow Nobel winner US President Barack Obama.
"I expect this meeting would only amount to a photo opportunity," Walesa told AFP.
"I believe one day I will meet with Obama, but not this time," Walesa said, adding he wished the US president "very well, but sometimes things just don't work out."
Obama landed in Poland Friday evening after flying from the G8 summit in France.
Walesa was originally scheduled to meet Obama on Saturday along with other key figures in Poland's post-1989 transition from communism to democracy.
The former Polish president also said that he would be flying to Italy Saturday in line with earlier plans.
According to sources close to Walesa, he was expecting a personal invitation from Obama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 shortly after taking office.
Senior Obama adviser Ben Rhodes noted that Walesa had been invited by Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski, the US leader's host.
"President Obama would welcome the opportunity to meet with" Walesa, Rhodes told reporters. "It's a scheduling matter that they are looking at."
Walesa said that he welcomed Obama's visit.
"He bears hope for Poland, Europe and the world," he told AFP.
Obama was due Friday to attend a working dinner with more than a dozen presidents of ex-communist states focusing on what lessons their democratic transformation could hold for the Arab Spring.
On Saturday, he is set to hold bilateral talks with Komorowski and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on the last leg of his European tour which has also covered Ireland and Britain.
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