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What goes on in Poland on the 22nd of February.
Poland in talks with European partners about Ukraine and energy crisis
While the visit of President Biden to Kyiv and Warsaw is stealing the headlines, Polish lawmakers are meeting with other partners to talk about supporting Ukraine and combating the energy crisis. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Foreign minister Zbigniew Rau attended a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels.
According to the Prime Minister’s Office, during the meeting the Prime Ministers mostly talked about providing more support for Ukraine. “The issue of Russian aggression and European security is an absolute priority. The victory of Ukraine today is a necessary condition for returning to normalcy and ensuring the security of the whole of Europe, and above all of Poland,” the press release said.
“The whole sphere of geopolitics around us is absolutely the number one topic, because in order to return to normal, to control the energy crisis, the economic crisis, to suppress inflation, we know perfectly well that we need to defeat Russia, that Ukraine needs to defeat Russia, with the support of the countries of the free world. Italy and Poland have absolutely identical views on these issues. We feel a similar responsibility. But we also feel a similar responsibility for Europe, for the development of Europe in the future,” Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stressed.
The Prime Minister of Italy Georgia Meloni left Poland to visit Kyiv, and according to media reports she “missed” the POTUS who was coming back from Ukraine.
Yesterday, Poland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Zbigniew Rau attended a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels. Among the main topics of the meeting were: Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the situation in Afghanistan and climate and energy diplomacy. During the Session on Climate and Energy Diplomacy, minister Rau stressed that one of the main goals of EU diplomacy should be to ensure the EU’s energy security through strategic partnerships with allies, the search for stable suppliers and the promotion of diversification of supplies. “The impact of Russia’s invasion on Ukraine on energy markets and Russia’s previous manipulation of the EU energy market have clearly shown that the functioning of the internal market and EU climate policy cannot be seen in isolation from energy security,” he said.
He added that the EU should encourage third countries to move away from dangerous dependence on energy supplies from Russia.
U.S. President speaks out against Russian imperialism, including in energy
The presidents of Poland and the United States promised continued support to Ukraine. Andrzej Duda talked about Russian imperialism, and Joe Biden about the use of energy as a weapon.
Putin thought that he would use energy as a weapon, but we will abandon his fossil fuels.
“Europe was being tested. America was being tested. NATO was being tested. Whether we will react, whether we will look the other way, whether we will be strong or weak,” the US President said. “A year later we have the answer, we are strong, we are united. The world does not look away,” he said.
“Putin thought he would use energy as a weapon to break Europe’s will to fight. Instead, we are working together to abandon Russian raw materials, ” said US President Joe Biden in the context of the energy crisis fueled by Gazprom before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Our support for Ukraine will not disappear. We will not be divided and NATO will not waver,” Biden said. “Russia will never win in Ukraine,” he added.
