Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski made an important speech dedicated to the Polish European policy and its vision of Europe.
Yesterday, in Berlin at the German Society for Foreign Affairs, Minister Sikorski delivered a speech “Poland and the Future of the European Union”. He warned that EU member states faced a choice „between deeper integration or collapse of the eurozone”. Sikorski made an extraordinary appeal: 'I will probably be the first Polish foreign minister in history to say so, but here it is: I fear German power less than I am beginning to fear German inactivity’.
- Financial Times commented „Germany told to act to save Europe„
- EUObserver – Poland fears German 'inactivity’ more than German power
- The Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad published a shortened version of the speech in Dutch.
- The Economist: 'But the historic moment is clear: to see a Polish foreign minister addressing a Berlin audience as a political heavyweight, with serious ideas and serious demands’
Quotes from the speech
On a crisis
– The break up of the eurozone would be a crisis of apocalyptic proportions, going beyond our financial system.
– If we are not willing to risk a partial dismantling of the EU, then the choice becomes as stark as can be in the lives of federations: deeper integration, or collapse.
On the EU
– What’s urgent is that we save the eurozone. What is important that we preserve Europe as a democracy that respects the autonomy of its member states. This new European deal will need to balance responsibility, solidarity and democracy as the cornerstones of our political union.
– Also, as long as the European Council sets in stone tough new rules, the European Central Bank should become a proper central bank, a lender of last resort that underpins the credibility of the entire eurozone. But more is needed. It is crucial we maintain coherence between the eurozone and the EU as a whole.
On Poland
– By the end of this parliament, Poland will fulfill the criteria of membership in the eurozone. That is because we want it to flourish. And we plan to be in it.
– What, as Poland’s foreign minister, do I regard as the biggest threat to the security and prosperity of Poland in the last week of November 2011? It is not terrorism, and it is certainly not German tanks. It is not even Russian missiles, which President Dmitry Medvedev has just threatened to deploy on the EU’s border. The biggest threat to the security of Poland would be the collapse of the eurozone.
On Germany
– We ask Berlin to admit that it is the biggest beneficiary of current arrangements and that it therefore has the biggest obligation to make them sustainable. As Germany knows best, she is not an innocent victim of others’ profligacy.
– I demand of Germany that, for its own sake and for ours, it help the eurozone survive and prosper. Nobody else can do it.
– I will probably be the first Polish foreign minister in history to say this, but here it is: I fear German power less than I am beginning to fear its inactivity. You have become Europe’s indispensable nation. You may not fail to lead: not dominate, but to lead in reform. Provided you include us in decision-making, Poland will support you.
- INTERVIEW: Prof. Norman Davies: “Speech of Sikorski signals a shift in political patterns in Europe” – 03.12.2011
Opublikowane w portalu Polonia.NL 29.11.2011, update 30.11.2011
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