“The European Union is stuck in a vicious cycle of crises,” Mateusz Morawiecki said in an opinion piece published by the Politico news service.
“If there’s any hope of breaking it, the EU urgently needs to change course after May’s European Parliament election,” he added.
He named crises such as Brexit, waves of migration, terrorism, economic slowdown, and public debt in many member states.
“All these have raised serious doubts about the future of the European project among its citizens," Morawiecki said in his opinion piece entitled "Poland’s Vision for Europe" and posted on the politico.eu website.
Morawiecki argued that "the answer to these crises in Brussels has been to centralize power, forget about democracy, transparency and accountability, and disregard national sovereignty."
He warned that such an approach that was “dangerously misguided," while also arguing that “the EU has to reinvent itself” in order to give “new hope” to European voters.
“Europeans need an EU that is socially sensitive; ambitious and innovative; tough on monopolies and protectionism; and safe,” Morawiecki said.
“Most importantly, the EU needs to return to its roots as a union of strong, equal and free nations,” he added.
He laid out a several-point “plan for the road ahead,” urging efforts to fight inequality; boost innovation; fight monopolies and protectionism; boost spending and protect borders.
He also called for “more democracy” in the bloc, cautioning that a growing number of Europeans “are wary of the EU institutions and doubt their impartiality.”
He asserted that “Brussels appears to treat certain member states better than others, with approaches to budget deficits, state aid, or institutional reforms seeming to differ according to the countries involved."
The EU "needs to do a much better job of ensuring the rules are applied fairly among its member countries," Morawiecki said, adding that it is "unacceptable for EU authorities to criticize some countries’ institutions for practices that do not raise objections elsewhere.”
He argued that fewer decisions should be made by politicians in Brussels, and more responsibility given to the democratically elected representatives of the EU’s member countries.
“Europe was founded on the idea that its member states are equal within the alliance. Only once Europe is truly a group of equal and self-respecting states, can the Continent become a superpower,” the Polish prime minister concluded.
In an interview published on Monday by Poland's Polska The Times daily, Morawiecki said his country has benefited substantially from joining the EU 15 years ago.
Poland became part of the EU on May 1, 2004, a historic step that underlined the country’s re-alignment with the West after decades of communist rule.
(gs/pk)
Source: politico.eu