Respect for Poland growing abroad, FM tells MPs
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
14.03.2019 12:07
Poland is increasingly respected abroad, Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz told parliament in a major policy speech on Thursday.
Jacek Czaputowicz addresses parliament. Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański
Outlining the priorities of Polish foreign policy this year, Czaputowicz told MPs: “Today Poland is an active country whose voice is being heard, and a country that commands growing respect among its foreign partners.”
Czaputowicz said Warsaw was strengthening its strategic partnership with the United States.
He told deputies that Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki were both scheduled to visit America this year, adding that the focus of the trips would be on business ties.
Czaputowicz said Poland opposed a European Commission proposal to tie pay-outs of EU money to an assessment of how the rule of law is being observed in member states.
Energy security
In a wide-ranging speech, he also told MPs that energy security was one of the priorities of Polish foreign policy.
He reiterated Warsaw’s opposition to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, describing the link as a political and economic threat to Poland and the Baltic Sea region as a whole.
The 1,200-kilometre Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is scheduled for completion this year, is expected to supply around 55 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, circumventing Poland, the Baltic states and Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump in July last year hit out at Germany for supporting the construction of the gas link.
(pk/gs)
Source: IAR/PAP