Polish PM: ‘Energy solidarity not for free’
PR dla Zagranicy
John Beauchamp
15.05.2014 12:31
Europe will have to pay the price if it is to create a diverse and unified energy policy, Prime Minister Donald Tusk underlined at a security conference in Bratislava.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk attends the session titled 'Visegrad Up: Finding Common Grounds in Times of Crisis' at the 2014 GLOBSEC Security Forum in Bratislava, Slovakia, 15 May 2014. Photo: PAP/EPA/JOZEF JAKUBCO
“If we are talking seriously about security, then we must sincerely say to ourselves that Europe will not be safe if we do not level up in terms of energy solidarity,” Tusk said at the conference in the Slovak capital on Thursday.
“When I hear that this is a difficult task – sometimes I hear that it is impossible – as there will be a price to pay for this, my only answer is an honest one: solidarity does not come for free,” he added.
PM Tusk spoke at the Bratislava Global Security Forum, attended by the heads of government from the Visegrad countries, NATO’s Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen as well as 800 politicians and experts from 65 countries.
The comments come as Tusk recently put forward the idea of a European energy union which would see the EU buy gas from external sources as a single bloc.
Speaking at the GLOBSEC conference in Bratislava, Poland’s prime minister declared that hypocrisy in European politics is an adversary of true solidarity, referring to the current crisis in Ukraine.
“We all see the annexation of Crimea, but some still speak of a referendum there. We see Russian commandoes in eastern Ukraine, but some still speak of Russian-speaking demonstrators,” Tusk enthused, adding that “getting rid of this hypocrisy will allow us to build a single stance on energy security and defence.”
Meanwhile, Donald Tusk also said that NATO should beef up its presence in the Baltic States as well as in Central and Eastern Europe.
“If there will be no readiness for a greater NATO presence in the frontier countries of the European Union, this will mean that NATO solidarity is merely a declaration,” Tusk said, adding that “the presence of NATO, with regards to infrastructure and specific units, should be more distinct in the area where we border an unstable region.” (jb)
Source: IAR