Mateusz Morawiecki and Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš are expected to discuss the EU’s energy and climate policies, fiscal reform and efforts to strengthen the bloc’s resilience, according to the spokesman for the Polish government, Piotr Müller.
Poland is pressing for urgent reform of the EU’s emissions trading scheme (ETS).
“It means speculation, it means preying on the poorest and middle-income citizens of the EU, who are bearing a disproportionately huge part of the costs of climate policy,” Müller told Polish Radio.
Regional security and cooperation
He added that the two leaders would also address the key issue of the geopolitical situation in the region, including Russia’s gas blackmail and its expectations regarding the so-called security guarantees from NATO.
“Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are well aware that Russia is a dangerous player,” Müller said. “They witnessed various disinformation activities on their soil.”
He added: “As for us, first and foremost we are going to raise the issue of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and ways of blocking its launch so as not to give Russia an additional tool to use.”
In addition, Morawiecki and Kariņš are due to discuss hybrid attacks by the regime of the Belarusian strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko, who has created a migrant crisis targeting both Poland and Latvia, Müller said, as quoted by the IAR news agency.
The Polish and Latvian prime ministers will also explore regional cooperation under the Three Seas Initiative of European countries between the Black, Baltic and Adriatic Seas, according to officials.
In this context, Latvia, which is set to host the initiative’s summit this year, focuses on specific transport projects such as the Via Baltica route and the Rail Baltica railway link, as well as renewable energy and 5G networks, the Polish government spokesman said in a statement, as cited by the IAR news agency.
On Monday, the Polish prime minister spoke on the phone with his Estonian counterpart Kaja Kallas, who announced Tallinn was sending another contingent of soldiers to help secure Poland’s border with Belarus, officials told reporters.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR