Kraków (Poland), July 5 Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and his Italian counterpart Georgia Meloni agreed in Warsaw on Wednesday to defend a “closure of the European Union’s (EU) external borders”.
In a joint press conference marking the Italian leader’s official visit to Warsaw, the two conservative leaders, in the words of Morawiecki, were “on the same page” and advocated “very similar, if not identical, positions”. . in matters such as immigration control, security and assisting Ukraine at war.
“Poland does not agree with illegal immigration. We also do not agree with the imposition of sanctions for non-reception (of immigrants),” stressed Morawiecki, who also referred to the “very similar vision of the development of Europe”. His opinion is shared by the leaders of Poland and Italy.
“Who is in charge of a particular country? Is it the European Commission that can impose quotas, sanctions, tax rates… or is it a sovereign state that decides within its borders and decides who it accepts and who not?” Morawiecki stated.
Warsaw has expressed its strong opposition to the Brussels-sponsored forced migrant resettlement program and, in addition to proposing a “safe borders plan” as an alternative, has also rejected the obligation to pay 20,000 euros for each resettlement allocated and not accepted.
Poland is demanding to be excluded from this program as it has taken in more than a million refugees from Ukraine.
For his part, Meloni pointed out that Poland is the only European country he has visited twice since the beginning of his term in office: “It seems to me that this is enough to show how important and deep our cooperation and bilateral relations are,” said he.
The Italian Prime Minister stressed that “Poland-Italy cooperation and bilateral relations are very close”. “In fact, our positions are unanimous on almost every issue discussed at the European Council,” he added.
Regarding material support for Ukraine, Meloni stated that it would be “extremely dangerous to adopt an attitude of passivity now” and stressed the need to deliver “new and modern weapons” to Kiev and to continue supplying arms and ammunition “for as long as necessary”. to continue .”, as well as the explicit political support of the government of Volodymyr Zelensky “at the next NATO summit”.
The Italian far-right leader drew attention to Europe’s strategic autonomy, which she says is in danger “because Europe no longer really controls its main supply chains and that doesn’t guarantee our independence and self-sufficiency. The defense must return is at the heart of our discussions,” he concluded. EFE
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