President: EU community should be based on European solidarity
European solidarity, freedom, unity, abiding by the law are all elements on which the efficient and good operation of the European community depends, Polish President Andrzej Duda said in Erfurt, Germany, on Tuesday.
Tuesday was the final day of President Duda's two-day visit to Germany to attend the 11th meeting of presidents of member states of the Arraiolos group discussing European cohesion, education and the migration crisis in Europe.
At a press conference after the meeting, Poland's president expressed satisfaction that the discussions on cohesion, education and integration had adopted a long-term approach. "I think this is precisely the perspective in which heads of state should look, and not just think about resolving or dealing with a current problem", Duda said.
He remarked that the presidents of the Arraiolos group countries talked about values that were the most important to Europe. "They are: European solidarity, freedom, unity, abiding by the law, because these are the elements that determine the efficient and good functioning of the community", President Duda said.
The president also pointed out that talks about the migration problem had to include a discussion on a properly functioning, well-prepared and consistently followed asylum law, and "looking to the future - an asylum policy".
In Duda's opinion, it is important for "the EU to work on preventing emigration from outside the EU, meaning in the (countries) from where these people are coming to the EU today, whether as refugees or as - also - economic emigrants".
"I hope a compromise is worked out at the meetings to be held in the coming days. I hope the EU reaches an agreement on these matters and that it will be based on principles of solidarity. Solidarity means partnership, namely understanding for justified mutual interests, but it also means equal treatment without stronger entities forcibly imposing their views on weaker or smaller ones", the Polish president said.
"I think this is an extremely important element of our European solidarity which I hope ... will last and which we will develop", Duda added.
Source: president.pl; PAP