Poland’s PM believes that President Macron’s vision of a federal Europe is “removed from the desires of nations and divorced from reality.” According to the PM, “the only realistic solution is building a Europe of nation states”.
Morawiecki was skeptical about there being “universal European values” as the “differences between languages and interests mean we will never be a United States of Europe.” The Polish PM admitted that there were many “misunderstandings” between France and Poland and that this was because France had never suffered from communism. This was why Poland was more committed to preserving its national identity and more skeptical of the idea of a federal European state.
A federal Europe is removed from the desires of nations and divorced from reality
Migration
The PM explained that Poland’s different approach to migration in comparison to that of Germany is conditioned by its different economic status. Germany, according to Morawiecki, is “one of the richest nations in the world” and has resources to “pay for any kind of social policy” and for “paying for the influx of migrants.”
He felt that it was unfair to demand that Poland take any more than the 1.5 million Ukrainians it was already hosting. The Polish PM felt that the best way to prevent millions of migrants from Africa and the Middle East attempting to come to Europe was through helping those countries to develop.
Russia
On attitudes to Russia, Morawiecki argued that Poland, having lived under a Red Army occupation for 50 years, was especially keen to remain independent of its eastern neighbor. He understood that given that “Central Europe shielded Germany and France from Russia” they perceived Russia only in “economic and trading” terms.
The trouble is that Russia sees “trade as a weapon”. Poland is prepared to have “normal relations” with Russia as long as it does not have “imperial ambitions”.
