European birthday bashes for Reagan

Didn’t join the McCarthy congressional delegation (codel) on that jaunt to Europe this week? Our deepest apologies if it was our fault: We did fail to mention that the 10-member group (plus spouses and aides), flying the cozy military jet, business class all the way, is, on top of everything else, off on a week-long birthday party.

Yes, we’re told that the codel, led by House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), after a stop to mingle with the troops in Germany, was on hand Monday in Krakow, Poland, to kick off a week of celebrations across Europe to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ronald Reagan. (The birthday was Feb. 6, but . . . it’s a big event.)

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Krakow was home to Pope John Paul II for four decades. The events there celebrated the special relationship between Reagan and the pope in the fight against the Soviets.

The traveling party’s next stop was Budapest, where it arrived Tuesday to join the Hungarian parliament’s commemorative session for Reagan. Former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice was on hand to speak.

A Reagan statue is to be unveiled Wednesday in Freedom Square, where the Soviets left a monument to remind the Hungarians that the Russians saved them from the Nazis. Reagan is staring down that monument, we’re told, looking through it to the U.S. Embassy. The Hungarians are putting on a gala dinner.

Meanwhile, another House codel, this one headed by Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), will be gliding into Budapest after two days of meetings in Brussels for the Transatlantic Legislators’ Dialogue gathering with European counterparts. The eight-member codel includes Republican Reps. Ed Whitfield (Ky.), Vern Buchanan (Fla.), Brian Bilbray (Calif.) and John J. Duncan Jr. (Tenn.) and Democratic Reps. Loretta Sanchez (Calif.), Jim Costa (Calif.) and Sheila Jackson Lee (Tex.).

We assume some spouses are also on the usual miljet. These TLD gatherings, frankly, tend to be a bit too wonky — lots of heavy breathing about NATO and Libya and Afghanistan — but they’re pleasant enough to be Loop-recommended.

And how about this? The Stearns gang will be linking with the McCarthy group, we’re told, for ceremonies at the new Tom Lantos Institute in Budapest. (So don’t even think about booking a table for dinner at Bagolyvar.)

On Thursday there’s another gala dinner, at the palace of Czech Prime Minister Petr Ne, followed by a conference the next day in Prague.

The schedule for Friday has Ambassador Norm Eisen hosting a dinner in honor of the Reagan Foundation — which is coordinating and sponsoring the trip — and the street in front of the splendid ambassadorial residence is to be named Ronald Reagan Street.

The centennial celebration week ends in London with the real highlight of the trip: the unveiling on the Fourth of July of a 10-foot bronze statue of the 40th president near the U.S. Embassy in Grosvenor Square.

The Reagan statue will be to your right as you leave the U.S. Embassy. (The hideous building is being vacated in a few years, but the statue is on public land, so it is expected to remain.)