President: People want EU that gives freedom - News - National Security Bureau

29.06.2016

President: People want EU that gives freedom

Brexit shows that people want to go back to an EU which supports and gives freedom instead of hindering and commandeering, President Andrzej Duda said Wednesday in the Slovak capital Bratislava.

Andrzej Duda told a press conference following talks with Slovak state head Andrej Kiska that Britain's decision to leave the EU proved that people in countries that are EU members much longer than Poland want to return to the Community's roots and "an EU which gives freedom and helps and not one that hinders and commandeers".

President Duda added that Poland planned to postulate a similar direction by tightening its bonds with the Visegrad Group countries Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary.

Recounting his talks with Kiska, Duda said he and the Slovak president agreed that the response to Brexit should be marked by calm and reflection. In this context he stressed that there was no "better and worse part" of the EU but "an EU still consisting of 28 states which should cooperate".

According to Andrzej Duda the EU needed a "serious debate" on the future functioning of its institutions and integration. Commenting on Brexit, he said any departure of an EU member was a potential threat for the Community, and stressed that Poland wanted the EU to "develop in a positive direction which would not endanger its existence".

"What we need is a serious debate on how European institutions are to function in future and in which directions integration should go. We would very much want the EU to develop in a positive direction which would not endanger its existence", the president observed.

Asked about Ukraine's NATO accession, Andrzej Duda observed that no one could make the decision for Ukraine, but stressed that NATO should uphold its open-door policy, especially towards countries towards which international laws have been violated.

Commenting the July NATO summit in Warsaw, Andrzej Duda said the meeting should focus on the military reinforcement of NATO's eastern frontier and security measures in the South.

President Kiska declared Slovakia's will to contribute to the security of the NATO countries and stressed that NATO had to respond to security fears felt by them after Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula.

Source: PAP; president.pl