Jerzy Buzek, the president of the European Parliament, today led a memorial service to commemorate the 96 victims of the plane crash that, on Saturday, claimed the lives of Polish President Lech Kaczyński and scores of other senior figures in Poland’s public life.

“Our thoughts first and foremost are with the families and the loved ones of the victims,” Buzek told a packed chamber, which included MEPs, José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, and other top EU officials and diplomats.

White roses were placed in a vase at the front of the Parliament’s chamber for each of the victims as their names were read out by Polish MEPs.

Buzek said that “history has dramatically come full circle” after the accident. The plane, carrying Kaczyński, his wife and a high-level Polish delegation, was to have attended a ceremony in western Russia to mark the 70th anniversary of the massacre of some 22,000 Polish officers by Soviet secret police, most of them at Katyn.

“We have been touched by the Russian reaction, full of dignity and understanding,” Buzek continued.

“We believe it will help us to reconcile our continent in both historical truth and mutual trust,” the former Polish prime minister said in a statement alluding to the long-standing tensions between Poland and Russia over the killings.

The massacre at Katyn, which lies close to Smolensk, is one of the seminal moments in modern Polish history and a key point of difficulty in relations with Russia. It has been reluctant to release archive documents or to make an unqualified apology, as the Soviet Union’s successor state, for the killings.

Russian officials, including President Dimitry Medvedev and Premier Vladimir Putin, were quick to offer their support to Poland in the wake of the crash, making a range of gestures that have been widely appreciated in Poland.

Flags outside the European Union’s three main institutions, the Commission, Parliament and Council, have been flying at half-mast since Saturday to honour the victims.

Memorial services for the victims will be held this weekend in Poland.

Medvedev and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel will join US President Barack Obama and many EU leaders and the leaders of Russia at a state funeral for the late president and his wife in Krakow on Sunday.

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