Wolfgang Schäuble’s 50th anniversary of his work was an opportunity for Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to address current international issues and challenges facing Germany and Poland. The Head of Government emphasised the need for solidarity with struggling Ukraine and mentioned Polish-German relations and their role in building a common Europe.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki addressed the issue of Russia and the attitude of Western European countries towards it. “30 years of peace in Europe turned out to be a partial illusion. Western Europe believed that the Russian bear could be tamed”, the head of government pointed out. “However, Poland knew that imperialism was the most important part of the Kremlin’s policy”, he added.

“European countries fell into a trap – they became dependent on Russian gas. It turned out that relations with Russia were a pact with the devil. The policy of Wandel durch Handel (change through trade) and the projects that were supposed to bind Russia to Europe did not work out”, the Prime Minister stressed. “What turned out to be just a business failure for the West, became a matter of life and death for countries such as Ukraine and Poland”, he explained.

According to the Polish Prime Minister, in Russian political thinking, the existence of an independent Ukraine or an independent Poland is incompatible with the existence of Russian imperialism.

“Europe must support Ukraine so that a Third World War does not occur. European countries cannot be indifferent to the shedding of Ukrainian blood. Ignoring Russia could lead to an onslaught on other European countries. Today, Ukrainians are not only fighting for their freedom, but they are also fighting to defend Europe”, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki pointed out. As he added, it is very important for the German government to act by supplying all types of armaments to Ukraine.

Adrian Andrzejewski