Polish prime minister calls for European unity
Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, has warned that an armed conflict has ceased to be an unlikely scenario as it has become a feasible possibility.
"Europe is on the verge of war today," Morawiecki wrote in an article headlined 'European unity is what we need today,' published by the Slovak weekly '.tyzden.'
Russia has massed more than 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine and has demanded concessions from Nato, including assurances that the bloc will not accept any new eastern members. Moscow and Minsk have also started joint military manoeuvres that are being closely watched by Nato.
The Polish prime minister said that the outbreak of war had never before been such a close prospect for many generations of young Poles and Europeans, and that the West wanted to believe for years that there would be no conflicts in the 21st century.
"Russia has again been trying to undermine Ukraine's territorial integrity," Morawiecki wrote, adding that it meant "an attack against European peace."
According to the prime minister, the world of European values, freedom, democracy and prosperity has become the target of Russian leaders and military commanders.
"And it is both Ukraine's future and the security and development of European economies which are at stake," Morawiecki stated, adding that this largest political crisis since the end of the Cold War challenged the rules adopted by the euro-Atlantic community after 1989.
Morawiecki repeated that solidarity and cooperation of the entire continent were the necessary response to the threat posed by Russia.
According to the prime minister, economic sanctions and a determined stance regarding the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project are the most effective tools.
Morawiecki's article was published as part of the worldwide media project 'Telling Poland to the World,' a joint initiative by Poland's Institute for New Media, the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), the Foreign Ministry and the Polish Press Agency.
