"Real unification of Europe within the European Union structure is still ahead of us" - President Duda thinks. The President expressed his doubts whether the shadow of the "cold war division" has passed and whether the awareness and sensitivity of the European nations are no longer clouded by it. The President also spoke about the transatlantic ties and the Polish eastern policy.
The President gave a speech when inaugurating the academic year at the Collage of Europe in Natolin. The speech concerned the situation of the European Union and the roles that Poland and Eastern Europe have in it. When stating that the actual unification of the Europe is still ahead of us, the President noted that “not all Central and Eastern European countries are part of the European Community”. “We should openly talk about it and support the EU open door policy and other countries’ attempts to join the EU,” - he stressed. The President expressed his grave doubts whether the shadow of the “cold war division” has passed and whether the awareness and sensitivity of the European nations are no longer clouded by it”. “Doesn’t the common history of the EU – intellectual, social and also political – still lack the achievements of our region? Shouldn’t the EU be making more use of the initiatives, energy and optimism the Central Europe citizens have?” - the President asked. In his opinion, there still exists an awful lot of stereotypes about and false perceptions of the countries located in this region. President Duda mentioned the Three Seas Initiative as an example of an “ambitious project” for cooperation between Central and Eastern European countries, whose objective is to help them overcome developmental backwardness. “We don’t want to be just the beneficiaries of the European unity. We want to develop and strengthen it for the benefit of the entire European Union,” - the President stressed. He also reminded the attendees that May saw the 13th anniversary of Poland’s accession to the European Union. He said that this event of 2004 was a milestone for the true unification of Europe. President Duda stressed that Poland’s accession to the European Union ended the cold war geopolitical division of the Old Continent that was forced upon the European countries and lasted for nearly 50 years. “There were no winners then at either side of the Iron Curtain,” - he stressed. By referring to the Polish history, the President underlined that with their actions, ethos and input in the European civilizational achievements, Poles proved that they wished to build Europe of equal nations and free states. “We never doubted that the unity of Europe was what we were striving for,” - he added. The President remarked that the past years that saw Europe being eaten away by internal competition and rivalry were the years of destabilisation, conflicts and wars, for Poland as well. “Therefore, 2004 was a giant leap towards unity of Europe and its safety. A moment when Western and Eastern Europe were brought together,” - the President said. In the President’s opinion, the European integration project, which – as he said – brought unprecedented stability and wealth to the continent, is currently “at stake”. The President remarked that the Old Continent is no longer one of the most stable and predictable regions in the world and that is – in the President’s opinion – the upshot of Brexit and the situation in the countries which border the EU on the south and east. President Duda appealed to the attendees to search for solutions and not to destroy the European unity. According to the President, the “two-speed” Europe will undermine the importance of major achievements of the European integration, i.e. the Schengen Area and the four freedoms of the European Single Market being a free movement of labour, goods, services and capital. The President stressed that the European Community needs to be reborn as the source of freedoms and unity not the source of restrictions and divisions. “The EU is in need of greater democracy and respect for the democratic choices made by the European nations. To achieve that, we need to go back to our roots, to a community model where the nations are free and each state equal,” - the President argued. “The power of Europe is in its nations. It is embedded in the citizens' DNA,” - the President added.
"United, we win. Divided, we lose"
He also underlined that Poland wishes to strengthen the transatlantic ties. He said that “particularly nowadays, when some states more openly manifest the imperial character of their foreign policy, the safety of the western world and durability of the international law-based order calls for solidarity on both sides of the Atlantic”. “United, we win. Divided, we lose. Therefore, strong and dynamic transatlantic cooperation is our great achievement and we shall not squander it,” - the President argued. He stressed that the East-directed European policy is of priority for Poland’s safety. According to the President, wars in Georgia and Ukraine, annexation of the Crimea and the frozen conflicts in the Transnistria remind us all “how fragile peace is”. The President stressed that “the history taught us how to realistically, i.e. without any false hopes, evaluate political processes taking place in the East”. “We notice more and we see things clearer because on this the safety of Poland and entire Europe depends,” - President Duda remarked. The College of Europe, which was established in 1949 in Bruges, is one of the world’s first educational institutions offering one-year courses and postgraduate studies in European affairs. In 1992, the College of Europe campus at Natolin (Warsaw, Poland) was founded.
Autor: mtom / Źródło: PAP/tłumaczenie intertext.com.pl