"However, Europe consists of more than just Poland,” Radosław Sikorski stated in a recent interview with Polityka news magazine.
Sikorski said in the interview that Poland’s impact on Brussels’ policies is “commensurate with its importance,” population and economy.
“It’s a success that we can play in a higher league thanks to our capabilities,” he added.
When asked about his vision of the future shape of the European Union, Sikorski expressed support for closer integration in areas "prioritised by Poles and other Europeans," such as healthcare.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, EU member states sometimes clashed over face masks, ventilators and vaccines, he observed.
The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, at the time highlighted the importance of the common market and free movement of goods, he said.
"It became apparent that one state cannot ban exports of masks to another member state," Sikorski told Polityka.
“It also became evident that Europeans want the EU to have its own reserves of medicines" to offset its dependence on external suppliers, he added.
Sikorski further noted that Europeans expect “minimum standards” in areas such as cancer treatment, suggesting that “this could prove to be a new field of integration.”
“Europhobes fail to understand that European standards, such as veterinary regulations, actually facilitate rather than hinder business,” Sikorski argued.
“If we had 27 different national standards, a single product would have to be modified in 27 different ways to be sold across the European Union,” he said.
In the face of the ongoing war in Ukraine, the Polish foreign minister emphasized the need for deeper defence integration in Europe, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Studies indicate that Europeans fear Vladimir Putin’s Russia and are concerned about the outcome of the US presidential elections in November, according to Sikorski.
“They believe that the EU, with its income of EUR 15 trillion, should not be defenceless, and I agree,” he said.
(kk/gs)
Source: PAP