Mateusz Morawiecki made the appeal ahead of the second day of talks at an EU summit in Brussels, Belgium, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
The European bloc’s 27 national leaders were set to discuss competitiveness, the single market and the economy, including “the reform of the EU economic governance framework,” officials said.
The Polish prime minister told reporters on Friday morning: “It’s important to quickly implement regulations that will increase the competitiveness of the EU’s internal market.”
'The stability of the financial system'
Morawiecki added that discussions on Friday would focus on “the stability of the financial system,” which he said was “necessary for the internal market to function smoothly.”
EU leaders were due to be joined by the president of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, and the head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers, Paschal Donohoe, according to officials.
The Polish prime minister told reporters he would highlight “various risks that have materialised,” notably “the risk in the banking sector, mainly the bankruptcy and takeover of Credit Suisse.”
Cash-strapped Credit Suisse, one of the world’s biggest banks, was bought by rival UBS in a Swiss government-backed deal on Sunday.
Morawiecki said he would also emphasise “the risks in the funds market and the risks associated with certain financial instruments.“
Ahead of the meeting, the Eurogroup’s Donohoe stressed the resilience of the European banking sector, while the ECB’s Lagarde was quoted as saying that there was no danger of a “domino effect” hitting Europe, but a senior Brussels official told the Politico news service that “the markets were quiet the week after Lehman Brothers collapsed [in 2008], too.”
Poland’s Morawiecki stated: “We will focus on the stability of the financial market so that the internal market works without obstacles. The internal market is valuable because it provides Polish small and medium-sized enterprises with export opportunities.”
Morawiecki added: “In a few days, I will meet in Poland with Thierry Breton, the EU commissioner responsible for the internal and services markets. I emphasise the issue of the services market because a large part of the economy is shifting towards services.”
He told reporters that “the EU market for services, from construction to IT and tourism, is not yet as integrated as the market for goods, or the capital market, which we’ll be discussing today.”
The Polish prime minister declared: “It is important that Poland not only expands the boundaries of freedoms in the single market in the field of services but also inspires others to quickly implement regulations that will increase the competitiveness of the entire internal market.”
Friday is day 394 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP, Politico, consilium.europa.eu