Poland’s prime minister is set to meet with fellow European Union leaders this week to discuss further support for Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion and measures to tackle an intensifying energy crisis in the bloc.
Mateusz Morawiecki.PAP/Paweł Supernak
The two-day summit of EU leaders begins in Brussels, Belgium, on Thursday, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
Poland to call for more aid to Ukraine, sanctions on Russia, Belarus
Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki will push for further military and financial assistance to Ukraine, as well as for fresh sanctions on Russia and its close ally Belarus, according to officials.
Ahead of the summit, European Council President Charles Michel said in his invitation letter to EU leaders that the Kremlin „has chosen to take several escalatory steps, including launching a mobilisation campaign, orchestrating sham 'referenda’ to illegally annex Ukraine’s territories and pursuing a threatening rhetoric. Most recently, Russian forces have indiscriminately bombed civilian areas.”
“Perpetrators of those war crimes should be held accountable,” Michel added.
He said the summit would discuss assistance to Ukraine, “in particular Ukraine’s immediate needs with a view to preparing it for this winter, as well as the sustainability of our mid- and long-term assistance.”
“Furthermore, in the light of the recent sabotage attacks against the Nord Stream pipelines, we will also look into ways of intensifying our cooperation to protect critical infrastructure,” Michel stated, as cited by Polish state news agency PAP.
Poland urges EU-wide price cap on gas
Michel also said: “The focal point of our agenda is the energy crisis, on which we must act with the utmost urgency.”
He added: ”In particular, we must imperatively intensify our three lines of action: reducing demand, ensuring security of supply and containing prices.”
Poland and more than a dozen other EU member states have urged an immediate introduction of a bloc-wide price cap on gas, the IAR news agency reported.
Polish government’s spokesman Piotr Müller said: “We emphasise the role of the EU’s emissions trading scheme (ETS) in shaping energy prices and call for a freeze on the prices of emissions allowances, as well as for effective mechanisms to limit price increases.”
Müller told reporters that Poland was „also in favour of stepping up the EU’s efforts to boost the resilience of critical infrastructure in member states.”
Meanwhile, Poland opposes the European Commission’s latest proposal for member states to automatically share gas in case of emergency, and for each member state to fill at least 15 percent of its gas storage by joint EU-wide purchasing, according to officials.
Poland wants policies to protect competition
EU leaders meeting in Brussels this week are also expected to address a range of macroeconomic issues, including ways to fight inflation, officials told reporters.
The Polish government spokesman said: “Poland stresses the need to coordinate national policies so that they don’t undermine competition on the internal market.”
The government in Warsaw has come out strongly against Germany’s EUR 200 billion plan to protect its citizens and companies from soaring electricity and gas bills, the IAR news agency reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, consilium.europa.eu, euractiv.com