Ukraine's fast path to the EU. Sikorski: He will be a member at the beginning of the next decade

Ukraine will become a member of the European Union at the beginning of the next decade, said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Radosław Sikorski in the podcast “The Rest Is Politics”. In his opinion, Russia will not withstand another three years of war.

– It is true that Hungary is blocking progress on this matter, but Ukraine already has candidate status – the politician added in an interview published this week.

According to Sikorski, Russia's leader Vladimir Putin will not withstand another three years of war with Ukraine, which will be supported by the West. They will help with this, among others: funds obtained from frozen Russian assets.

– Ukraine currently produces about half of its drones and missiles at home. Putin didn't get what he wanted; we thought he had the second army in the world, but he has been fighting in Donbas for 10 years. I wouldn't call it a victory, the minister noted.

As he emphasized, Europe must have its own defense capabilities and not rely on the US in every emergency. – We should be able to deal with some warlord in Libya or the Balkans – Sikorski said.

– Poland's relations with Russia are 500 years old, we were a Russian colony. The Russians attacked us together with Nazi Germany in 1939 and imposed communism for 45 years, Sikorski recalled.

– We will sooner eat grass than become a Russian colony again – he added.

In response to the host's comment that Sikorski was speculating about Russia's presence in NATO, the Polish politician emphasized: – I said that it would be in our interest for Russia to meet NATO criteria, which means democracy and repairing relations with neighboring countries.

– If Russia fulfilled these conditions, it would be a different country – said Sikorski. – People keep reminding me that we were trying to normalize our relations with Russia at that time, but I thought it was worth the try – he added.

When asked about his meetings with the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, he said that in his opinion, Lavrov was the real minister of foreign affairs until the annexation of Crimea, i.e. he had influence on politics. From that moment on, he is only a “spokesman” of the Kremlin.

In his opinion, the “seeds of Brexit” were sown (in Great Britain) in the 1980s. As he emphasized, the British public was misled by politicians and the media as to the actual functioning of the EU.

– If someone in the 1980s told me that there would come a time when Poland would be in the EU and Great Britain would be outside it, and that there would be a serious political debate in Great Britain about whether Poland would overtake it economically, I would have said it was pure fantasy; and yet this is what we see, Sikorski noted.

When asked about the situation in the Middle East, the minister recalled that Poland supports the two-state solution – there is a Palestinian ambassador in Warsaw, and the Polish government criticized the “abuse of force and violations of humanitarian law” by Israel.

Sikorski also reminded that many people, when criticizing Israel, forget about what led to the war in the Gaza Strip, i.e. the Hamas attack.

– Our Charles is (British king) Charles III with the right to veto – said the minister, explaining the constitutional system in Poland, as well as the dispute between the government of Donald Tusk and President Karol Nawrocki.

– I took over the resort with over 50 percent. ambassadors who are not diplomats are party ambassadors. I am currently trying to make the Polish foreign service professional again, said Sikorski.

In a casual conversation with the show's hosts, Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart, the head of Polish diplomacy also mentioned, among others, the times of communism and the 1990s in Poland, studies at Oxford and his presence in Afghanistan in the 1980s as a correspondent for the British media. (PAP)

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