Nation states remain best equipped to cope with the challenges of recent years faced by the European Union, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has claimed.
At a joint press conference on Monday to mark the 19th anniversary of Polish accession to the bloc, Polish President Andrzej Duda and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki offered a staunch defense of nation-state sovereignty.
According to Morawiecki, Poland’s accession to the European Union 19 years ago marked “Poland’s return to Europe.” Accession was not only a full return to the civilization Poland sprung from, but was also an element of “historic justice,” he told attendees.
Poland’s head of government called for a degree of reflection on this anniversary. “We are at a geopolitical crossroads” caused by the war in Ukraine “that requires a strong transatlantic community,” he explained.
Morawiecki confirmed that transatlantic unity would be key to the Polish presidency of the EU in 2025, adding that any notion of “strategic European autonomy against the United States would mean marginalization of Europe.”
He also stated that the best answer to the challenges of recent years lay in nation-states. “During the pandemic, we saw how nation-states were the ones with the resources and the means to act,” he added.
Morawiecki also noted that the quick decisions made by Poland as well as the United States and the United Kingdom, which had not waited for Brussels, largely helped Ukraine survive despite Russia’s overwhelming power.
“The role of nation-states is invaluable,” he said.
The current conservative government in Poland has continued to argue for a Europe of nation-states. It has categorically opposed any attempts at federalization of the EU.
Poland joined the EU on May 1, 2004, following a referendum in which 77.5 percent of people voted in favor of joining the bloc.
