French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Poland on Monday has opened new chapters in Polish-French relations, declared Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
The president of France and Polish prime minister signed a Polish-French declaration of cooperation concerning European policy.
Morawiecki underlined that Poland and France have many common elements as part of the Common Agricultural Policy, which will be an important step in negotiating a suitable budget agreement with the EU.
The Polish leader emphasized that he had found “total fellowship of interests and compatibility” with Macron in terms of combating tax havens and the digital tax. Both leaders agreed for the tax to become part of a new substantial source of income for the EU budget.
Morawiecki stressed that an “ambitious Europe will require an ambitious budget” which can be financed through eliminating rebates and new sources, such as a finance transaction tax, taxes on international corporations, the digital tax, and CO2 emission fees.
Emmanuel Macron pointed to the issues of security and defense as areas of common interests with Poland, including cyber security and field operations.
“France is guided by one line here – the collective security of Europe, which means that we put the interests of European partners above all others and that demands an increase of Europe’s defense potential, but not at the cost of NATO,” Macron declared.
Macron admitted that he was aware of the significant effort Poland will have to undertake to reach climate neutrality by 2050. He pointed out that Poland’s “energy mix” is based on Polish history and that France must recognize and understand Poland’s position.
The French president indicated that France will urge for the Just Transformation Fund to be focused on the poorest regions, which were most affected by the transformation away from coal, and that Poland will be able to use these funds to fund its climate and energy transformation.
