“We have taken a huge step in the direction of accord between the United States and Europe,” Konrad Szymański, Poland’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, said to TVN24 BiS’s Jacek Stawiski at the Global Forum 2017. Szymański was commenting on President Donald Trump’s visit to Poland.
According to the deputy minister, the American president’s “most important words” were aired on Thursday – on one hand, in the direction of Poland, but on the other hand, in the direction of all Europe. Trump “very clearly brought up the guarantees entailed by Poland’s membership in the North Atlantic Alliance,” TVN24 BiS’s guest said, referring to the issue of the president confirming NATO’s Article 5 on collective defense against an external foe. “Such strong words had never been previously voiced by this president,” he added.
"Conservative credo" and the battle over values
“It would be good to see a strong Europe doing more for its own security. The question is whether Europe is ready for it,” Szymański said, commenting on Trump’s call to ensure the security of borders and defend the values of Western civilization.
According to Szymański, Western Europe responded “unnecessarily aggressively” to Trump’s previous statements about Europe not spending enough money on defense and security. “Our resources are not unlimited, which is why we must work together and take advantage of what we have,” he explained.
“In recent months, the president has made a big effort to understand Europe,” Szymański added, assuring that “Warsaw will do everything to help trans-Atlantic reconciliation.”
Poland’s deputy minister of foreign affairs said that Donald Trump, when speaking in Warsaw about Western civilization, aspired to “an analysis deeper than politics.” He added that this analysis is “close” to the Polish government’s views.
“Donald Trump’s speech was a very conservative credo, attractive to a great many people in Europe,” the deputy minister said, adding that “conservative ideas for projecting the West should be just as important as other visions for it”, and “Poland has much to contribute to this discussion.”
Szymański said that “extremism and terrorism” – words used by the US president on Thursday – “properly place where the problems exist” on the boundary between different cultures. “The number of people who undermine our principles this way is growing,” he added, explaining that, in his opinion, it’s the “constant confrontation of certain models of life” that entitles us to claim that a clash of civilizations is now occurring.
The deputy minister of foreign affairs said that “we have the right to decide what our society looks like... Our way of life is good for us and we want to continue it,” TVN24 BiS’s guest emphasized.
Źródło: tvn24.pl/tłumaczenie Intertext.com.pl
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: TVN24 BiS