Poland and Hungary can be united says Morawiecki
Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, has sought to smooth over troubles with Hungary by saying the two countries still have the same view on EU politics and can work together.
Hungary's government, led by Viktor Orban, has long been an ideological ally of the Polish government, and both have been embroiled in a series of clashes with an EU that they believe has become too federalist in nature.
But the two have clashed over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Hungary has opposed sending arms to Ukraine since the start of the conflict and also questioned EU sanctions on Russian oil and gas.
On August 29, Hungary said it would continue talks with Russia on additional gas supplies and expects to reach a deal with Russian gas supplier Gazprom to boost deliveries further from September.
"Poland and Hungary are still divided by their attitude to Ukraine," Morawiecki told a press conference on Monday in Warsaw.
"Our attitude towards Ukraine is very concrete - to provide help, because the front line is there today and we do not want it to be closer to Poland," he said.
But Morawiecki added that although he is "critical of many statements of our Hungarian allies," the Hungarians also voted in favour of sanction packages against Russia.
According to him, Poland has "a lot in common with Hungary," which along with the Czech Republic and Slovakia, "is Poland's closest ally within the European Union."
"Our Hungarian friends can clearly see how politics is conducted in Brussels," Morawiecki said.
The Polish prime minister believes that to deal with the effects of today's energy, climate and economic crisis "we have to look for what unites us even if we are slightly different."
He added that within the Visegrad Group format, which brings together Poland, Hungary and the Czech and Slovak republics, "we are able to implement our policy more effectively."
On Sunday, the wpolityce.pl portal published excerpts from an interview with Morawiecki in which he announced that the Polish government wanted to return to cooperation within the Visegrad Group and "joint activities with Hungary."
