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Polish Briefing 16 February, 2018 9:00 am   
COMMENTS: Mateusz Gibała

Polish Briefing: Will Morawiecki talk about Nord Stream 2 in Germany?

What goes on in Poland on the 16th of February.

Will Morawiecki talk about Nord Stream 2 in Germany?

Today, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki is going to visit Berlin, where he will meet, among others, the Chancellor Angela Merkel. Details of the topics that politicians will address are unknown, but it is possible that one of them will be the construction of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.

In addition, according to information published by Wirtualna Polska, Prime Minister Morawiecki may appear at the Security Conference in Munich, where he may also discuss the construction of a new pipeline on the bottom of the Baltic Sea. On the eve of the departure to Germany, Prime Minister Morawiecki was interviewed the Die Welt newspaper, in which he stated that Nord Stream 2 is “unnecessary, harmful and divides the western community.”

Earlier, the Polish Prime Minister has repeatedly emphasized his opposition to the construction of Nord Stream 2, pointing at the political nature of the project, which poses a threat to the security of the region. Germany considers the pipeline as a business project. In addition, Chancellor Angela Merkel in mid-June last year, said that the European Commission does not need a separate mandate to talk with Russia about the legal basis for implementing the controversial legal pipeline for Nord Stream 2.

Błaszczak: NATO is changing and getting stronger

– The most important thing is that NATO is changing and getting stronger. It becomes a force that is able to resist the threat – said Mariusz Błaszczak, Minister of National Defense after the first day of the NATO Defense Ministers’ meeting at the NATO Headquarters in Brussels.

The change of command structure and the creation of new commands, increasing defense spending of member states and cooperation between NATO and the EU were the main topics of the session. The meeting was also used to prepare for the July summit of the Alliance. At the NATO summit in Warsaw in July 2016, the Allies decided to review the command structure in response to new threats and challenges, including aggressive actions by Russia.

– The changes proposed in the NATO command are a very good direction and will strengthen the North Atlantic Alliance after many years. Poland is still interested in accepting the command of the army, which is to be established as part of the reform of the NATO command structure – said the head of the Defense Ministry, Mariusz Blaszczak. As he emphasized – The most important thing is that NATO is changing and getting stronger. It becomes a force that is able to resist the threat. This is the process we expected. It also strengthens our security.