Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk will travel to Tallinn on Sunday for talks with his counterparts from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, his chief of staff, Jan Grabiec, has announced.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.X/Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland
Tusk will meet with Estonia’s Kaja Kallas, Latvia’s Evika Silina and Lithuania’s Ingrida Šimonytė to discuss „the situation on the eastern border,” among other topics, Grabiec said.
After taking office on Wednesday, the Polish prime minister took part in a two-day summit of European Union leaders in Brussels.
While in the Belgian capital, Tusk focused on unblocking EU funds frozen due to Brussels’ concerns over the rule of law under the previous Polish government, Grabiec told reporters on Friday.
The Polish prime minister also sought to get EU leaders to agree on starting accession talks with Ukraine, Grabiec said.
Polish, Baltic PMs to meet on Sunday
Grabic announcerd that Tusk would meet with his Baltic counterparts in Tallinn on Sunday evening to discuss „shared important issues,” such as „the situation on the eastern border.”
Estonia’s prime minister welcomed the fact Tusk was making his first foreign trip after the EU summit to Tallinn, news outlets reported.
Kallas said Poland was an „important partner for the Baltic states,” in terms of „NATO’s collective security and the region’s connectivity, but also economically.”
She added the four prime ministers would „analyse the outcomes of the European Council as well as discuss long-term support for Ukraine and regional cooperation.”
Congratulations from Joe Biden
The new appointed Polish prime minister has received a „very personal letter” from US President Joe Biden, with „congratulations and proposals for areas of cooperation in the coming weeks and months,” Grabiec told the media.
He added that Tusk „has received congratulations from across the world” after taking office earlier this week.
Plan to replace heads of security services
Grabiec also said that Tusk would make „personnel changes in the public administration,” starting with „agencies where crimes or abuses of power may have taken place” under the previous conservative government.
Grabiec added that the prime minister had „taken steps” to replace the heads of Poland’s security services, including civil and military intelligence, civil and military counterintelligence, and the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA).
On Wednesday, Tusk requested the opinion of the governmental Security Services Committee, the parliamentary committee on security services and President Andrzej Duda on the planned changes at the top of security agencies, according to officials.
The governmental Security Services Committee has given a favourable opinion, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
Gov’t to approve draft 2024 budget on Tuesday
Grabiec also told reporters that ministers were working on the draft 2024 budget and that the Cabinet would „likely approve it at its meeting on Tuesday.”
The government expects lawmakers to process the 2024 budget plan „as a matter of urgency,” the IAR news agency reported.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, Government of Estonia