"I deeply trust in the independent, sovereign, free Poland," president Andrzej Duda said on Friday during the official celebrations of Independence Day. In his address given in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Piłsudski Square in Warsaw, the president spoke about the crises that Poland and Europe had been faced with in recent months, including the war in Ukraine. "I thank all those who have carried support for our Ukrainian neighbours," he said.
President Andrzej Duda gave a speech during the main part of Poland's Independence Day celebrations at Piłsudski Square in Warsaw. President of Lithuania Gitanas Nauseda was among the guests of Friday's (November 11) event.
Andrzej Duda reminded that celebrations of the centennial of Poland's independence have been going on since 2017, when "we have inaugurated an important chapter in the history of independent, free and sovereign again, and again the Republic of Poland". "But if we look at the whole 104-year period, then we must say that - despite all winds of history, despite extremely difficult decades and horrific years of the World War II - most of that time Poland has been a sovereign and independent state. Poles have lived as free people in their own country," he said.
The president thanked everyone "who have been reminding for the last five years or so about the immense value of a sovereign and independent state".
"I'm very grateful to all of you, my compatriots, with all my heart, for building this profound awareness of the value of independence and sovereignty in our people, especially in younger generations. Right here, but also in our compatriots living abroad," he stressed.
He added that plenty of complaints had been voiced in recent years regarding too much of history and independence topics in Polish public discourse. "Some didn't want to remember this important sentence that independence and freedom aren't given once and for all, that you can lose them, that you can not have them, that someone could take it away, just like it had been taken away from the Poles at the turn of the 18th and in the 19th century," Duda said.
Polish president also spoke about the help and support that the Polish people offered Ukraine and its citizens after the Russian invasion. "I thank all those who have carried support for our Ukrainian neighbours. ... To those who have invited refugees from Ukraine to their homes, not asking who is who, not asking if they are rich or poor," he said.
"Yes, this has been an action in defence of Poland's independence. This has been an action in defence of our freedom, and of our part of Europe," the president added.
"I deeply trust in the independent, sovereign, free Poland. I deeply trust in my compatriots. I deeply trust in the sense of great belief - rooted in each and every of us - in the value of sovereign and independent Poland, our own, in which we govern ourselves and about which we decide ourselves. I deeply trust in the wisdom of our society," president Duda said.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP