The former foreign minister of Poland, Witold Waszczykowski, said he is convinced that Ukraine is being encouraged by both Brussels and Berlin to take hostile actions against Poland. The EU itself does not want to give Ukraine money to compensate for the war, so now it wants to pay for the war by opening up the Polish market to Ukrainian grain, said Waszczykowski, who also serves as an MEP in Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party (PiS), while speaking with Polish platform i.pl.
Waszczykowski believes that grain is not the issue. The EU is trying to bring down the PiS government. He recommends that instead of attempting to conciliate, Poland should take a tough stance and fight its corner.
The former foreign minister, however, is opposed to any attempts to stop the flow of arms to Ukraine via the hub in Rzeszów. That would inevitably lead to Poland getting the blame for Ukraine’s defeat. However, there is also a problem of Ukraine taking Poland for granted. The Ukrainians feel Poland must back them regardless of how they behave towards it. Nevertheless, Waszczykowski warns against “megaphone diplomacy” and public spats.
In Waszczykowski’s opinion, Germany is also blackmailing both Ukraine and Europe, with the Germans saying they will support enlargement of the EU, but only if the member states’ veto is removed. That is another trap for Poland, making Poland responsible for blocking Ukraine’s EU accession. Ukraine does not seem to understand the game Germany is playing and thinks Germany will help it into the EU, he said.
Waszczykowski said he thinks Polish diplomacy needs to engage actively in dialogue with Ukraine to explain how the EU and its bureaucracy works, or else they will get slanted information from German foundations. He says he is very concerned at the lack of knowledge displayed by Ukrainian politicians regarding the EU. He added that the Ukrainians have to understand Germany’s game and that “Europe from Lisbon to Vladivostok” is not in their interests.
According to the former foreign minister, the bitter experience of Poland’s diplomacy is that eurocrats are prepared to lie and mislead at every stage and that concessions do not work.
“Poland has been compromising and realizing the milestones set by the European Commission, but every time, (Brussels) adds something else to their list (of demands),” warns the former head of the Polish diplomacy.
Waszczykowski was referring to the EU funds owed to Poland that have been locked, with the EU saying it will only release them when all of its demands related to the rule of law and other issues are met. As with the case of Hungary, this list of demands has been continuously added to.
