Saturday

9th Dec 2023

Poland: Russia seeks 'new empire' in Europe

  • Waszczykowski (r), with Flanagan in Dublin on Thursday (Photo: msz.gov.pl)

Poland has warned that Russia could try to build a “new empire” in Europe by military “aggression” in a threat also to “lucky” EU states, such as Ireland, who are not on the front line.

“We currently look at the east with ever greater unease, that Russia could, once again, enter on the path of aggression and of building a new empire, and that we could, once again, become its victim”, Witold Waszczykowski, the Polish foreign minister, said in Dublin on Thursday (24 November) according to Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • Polish minister spoke about Russia at an Irish think tank (Photo: msz.gov.pl)

He said the fall of the Soviet empire “to an ever greater extent appears to have been a temporary situation, and not a definitive end in history”.

He said Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008 and of Ukraine in 2014 showed that “Russia is ready to resort to military force against her neighbouring sovereign states”.

He added that Poland is not anti-Russian and would have preferred a “stable and predictable Russia, that acts in accordance with international law”.

Waszczykowski spoke at the The Institute of International and European Affairs, a think tank in the Irish capital, after a two-day visit to the EU’s westernmost member.

He told press in separate remarks that “Ireland is a lucky country which is located very far away from the conflict areas, but in this globalised world there is, of course, no country which is totally immune”.

He also discussed Brexit and the issue of growing euroscepticism in the EU with his Irish counterpart, Charlie Flanagan.

Brexit talks

The Polish minister said EU states “should in the next few months work out a joint position” for talks on future UK relations, set to start at the end of March.

“We have a special issue with the UK because we have hundreds of thousands of Poles living there, so especially for us freedom of movement of people is very much important”, he said.

He said the growth of anti-EU populism in Europe was “disturbing”.

“We should once again place member states at the heart of the European project. If we improve, in this way, the legitimacy of EU institutions, we would respond to at least some of the reasons for the crisis in its [the EU’s] popularity”, he said.

British people voted to leave the EU, in part, because they wanted fewer Polish migrants in the UK.

The referendum in June was followed by an increase in xenophobic attacks on Polish people.

Some 150,000 Poles have also settled in Ireland, becoming its largest minority, and making the Polish language the most widely spoken foreign tongue in the country.

’Good citizens’

Waszczykowski asked for Irish schools to offer Polish language lessons.

He said Poles in Ireland were “good citizens” who “deserve that Polish culture is cultivated here” and that it would be a “good sign and a symbolic decision” if Ireland agreed.

Flanagan, the Irish foreign minister, said Polish relations had “grown hugely in recent years” and that “the Polish community is an extremely valued and integral part of Irish society”.

Ireland and Poland also have special ties with the US.

Waszczykowski and Flanagan voiced confidence in the incoming administration of president-elect Donald Trump.

The Polish minister said Trump’s “campaign statements”, for instance, on US disengagement from Nato, were already being replaced by “traditional US Republican [Party] foreign policies.”

Flanagan said Ireland expected to have “continued engagement” with America.

Crude World

Shinzo Abe's hot-tub diplomacy

Why European leaders should learn from Japanese prime minister's failing diplomacy with Russia and not make the same mistakes.

Latest News

  1. How Moldova is trying to control tuberculosis
  2. Many problems to solve in Dubai — honesty about them is good
  3. Sudanese fleeing violence find no haven in Egypt or EU
  4. How should EU reform the humanitarian aid system?
  5. EU suggests visa-bans on Israeli settlers, following US example
  6. EU ministers prepare for all-night fiscal debate
  7. Spain's Nadia Calviño backed to be EIB's first female chief
  8. Is there hope for the EU and eurozone?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us