Polish, Italian presidents urge free elections in Belarus: aide

The Polish and Italian presidents called for free elections in Poland’s eastern neighbor Belarus when they met in Rome on Wednesday, an aide has said.

Poland's President Andrzej Duda and Italy's Sergio Mattarella meet in Rome on Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2020.

Photo: Jakub Szymczuk/KPRP

Poland’s Andrzej Duda and Italy’s Sergio Mattarella voiced "common concern and the lack of acceptance for action against citizens taken by the Belarusian authorities," Krzysztof Szczerski, chief of staff to the Polish president, told reporters.

The two presidents "stressed that the people of Belarus should be allowed to vote in free elections so that they can decide about their own future,” Szczerski said.

He added that Duda and Mattarella agreed that "no one should be allowed to treat Belarus instrumentally, and this also applies to Russia, and that the EU must be active when it comes to Belarus and make decisions to support the right of the Belarusian people to free elections."

The two presidents also discussed “the future of the European economy after the end of the pandemic, including the need for financial cooperation and investment aimed at reinstating production processes to the European Union,” according to the Polish president’s website.

Duda tweeted after the talks that Poland and Italy were teaming up to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and that the two countries also worked together on issues affecting the EU and their neighborhood as well as global challenges.

Dziękuję Prezydentowi Mattarella @Quirinale za ciepłe przyjęcie. Włochy heroicznie walczyły z #Covid19. Wspólnie stawiamy czoła nie tylko pandemii. Współpracujemy w sprawach UE, naszego sąsiedztwa i wyzwań globalnych. Doświadczenia Prezydenta #Mattarella są dla mnie bardzo cenne.

— Andrzej Duda (@AndrzejDuda) September 23, 2020

While in Rome on Wednesday, the Polish president also met with Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to discuss bilateral economic ties and European issues including infrastructure, climate policy and migration as well as relations between the EU and Britain post-Brexit, according to the prezydent.pl website.

Polish President Andrzej Duda and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte meet at Chigi Palace in Rome, Italy, on Wednesday, September 23, 2020. Photo: EPA/Filippo Attili

Dziękuję za owocne spotkanie premierowi @GiuseppeConteIT, @Palazzo_Chigi. Omawialiśmy współpracę gospodarczą strategię rozbudowy PL infrastruktury komunikacyjnej oraz przyszłość polityki UE w zakresie inwestycji rozwojowych, sprawiedliwej transformacji w polityce klimatycznej.

— Andrzej Duda (@AndrzejDuda) September 23, 2020

Earlier in the day, Duda visited the Rome-based Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases, an Italian research centre on the front lines of the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said there that Europe needed to become self-sufficient in producing medical gear to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

During his three-day trip to Italy and the Vatican, Duda is also scheduled to stop at a Polish war cemetery at Monte Cassino and meet with Pope Francis.

(gs/pk)

Source: PAP, prezydent.pl

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