Polish FM calls Tusk comments about Trump ‘inappropriate’

In a letter addressed to European leaders ahead of an informal EU summit in Malta on Friday, the EC President and former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote that recent declarations from the White House “put the EU in a difficult situation”.

According to Poland's Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski, the letter was intended for “some European politicians who are frightened and frustrated by what has happened in the United States”.

However, the Polish foreign minister noted that Trump had said that his election to the US presidency was “legal” and “democratic”.

“It is not right for us to judge, criticise this programme, because [Trump] was elected by Americans and [the programme] will be achieved for Americans,” Waszczykowski said.

“Just as we, some months ago, did not wish for Poland’s democracy to be judged by anyone other than Polish citizens, who elected us [...] so too I believe that judgement of the state of democracy in the United States by European politicians is unnecessary and inappropriate,” he said.

In his letter, Tusk named an "assertive China", "Russia's aggressive policy" toward Ukraine and neighbouring countries and conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, which are fuelled by “radical Islam”, as key external threats to the EU. These, he said, "as well as worrying declarations by the new American administration, all make our future highly unpredictable".

(vb/pk)

Source: PAP