Polish PM: EU Ignored the Russian Threat

In his article for French daily Le Monde published on August 16, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that the European Union has been turning a blind eye to recurring warnings about the threat posed by Russia.

“The war in Ukraine divulged the truth regarding Russia. Those who did not wish to notice Putin state’s imperialistic tendencies can now see that in Russia, the demons of the 19th and 20th century – nationalism, colonialism, totalitarianism — have been revived and are becoming more visible,” he said.

He added that the war in Ukraine had likewise revealed the truth about Europe. Vladimir Putin managed to entice a number of European leaders. Today, they are in shock.

“The return of Russian imperialism shouldn’t surprise us. Europe has ended up in this situation not because it wasn’t sufficiently integrated, but because it refused to listen to the voice of truth. Poland has been trying to voice it for many years,” he said.

Morawiecki notes that this ignorance illustrates a problem that is much grander than the one the EU is facing today.

“The equality of individual member states is declarative. The real politics show that the voices of Germany and France are the ones that matter the most. We are, therefore, dealing with a formal democracy and a de facto oligarchy in which power is held by the strongest,” he stated.

The Polish PM added that if the whole of Europe had supported Germany’s stance, the Nord Steam 2 pipeline would have been launched many months ago.

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“Europe’s dependence on Russian gas, which Putin uses as a tool to blackmail the entire continent, would have become virtually irreversible,” he said, adding that it is important that the EU preserves the principle of unanimity as it precludes the EU from becoming a tyranny of the majority.

“It might be frustrating to seek a compromise among 27 member states that will not be fully satisfied with the outcome. Still, it allows us to be sure that each voice has been heard and that the adopted solution corresponds to the minimum expectations of each member state,” he wrote.

Previously, Polish President Andrzej Duda had said that Ukraine is also defending Poland and Europe.