What did Radosław Sikorski say about freedom of speech?
What differences did Sikorski notice between the USA and Europe?
Who else took part in the discussion in Munich?
How did Sikorski assess the Trump administration's interference in politics?
As he recalled, when he first came to Washington, he considered himself a conservative, but he was surprised to find that his notion of the right to health care or to own a gun made him a “commie” in America. He noted that similar “civilizational” differences exist in the perception of freedom of speech, which in America is almost unlimited.
— In Europe, for important historical reasons, for example in Poland, advocating fascism and communism is prohibited for very important historical reasons. We believe in freedom of speech with responsibility. “And what happened here a year ago was that the vice president of the United States told us that our idea of free speech is censorship, and I just don't accept that,” Sikorski said. – And so the difficulty we are struggling with now is that one side of the Atlantic is trying to impose its values on the other side and that is unacceptable, he added.
Radosław Sikorski criticizes Donald Trump's entourage
Later in the discussion, the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also criticized the Trump administration's violation of the current unwritten rule of mutual non-interference in the political process within Western democracies. He cited the example of Trump's support for Karol Nawrocki in the presidential elections.
— In the past, we did not interfere (in the affairs of allies), but we did interfere in the politics of autocracy in the name of democracy, and now it is the other way around, Sikorski said. — This is completely outrageous. And in Poland, for example, it is irrational, he added. As he noted, Poland was for years the most pro-American country in Europe, and “the United States had a wonderful situation in which the government and the opposition competed for who would be more pro-American.”
“When you start choosing sides, a different dynamic begins,” he said.
Hilary Clinton accuses Donald Trump. “It's shameful”
A discussion in which Sikorski participated, as well as, among others, former US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, and the head of Czech diplomacy, Petr Macinka, focused mainly on the ideological differences between conservatives and liberals, as well as on the approach of both sides of the Atlantic to the war in Ukraine. Clinton identified this issue as the most important source of differences between the US and Europe. — I believe that the Trump administration's position towards Ukraine is shameful. I think trying to force Ukraine to capitulate with Putin is shameful. “I believe that Putin and Trump's efforts to profit from the misfortune and death of the Ukrainian people are a historic mistake and corruption to the highest degree,” said the former US foreign minister.
However, when Gladden Pappin, a right-wing American political scientist who heads the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs, warned against labeling Trump as an “Putin apologist”, Sikorski interjected that the American president had hung a photo with Putin in the White House. – I do not have a portrait of Putin in my house – he noted.
The Polish deputy prime minister also got into a verbal fight with his Czech counterpart Macinka, who criticized labeling political opponents as fascists. Sikorski replied that there are fascists in Europe and that, contrary to Macinka's words, this is not a problem that ended 70-80 years ago. He responded in a similar way to Pappin, who criticized the exclusion of some political parties in Europe.
— Yes, we exclude fascists, said Radosław Sikorski.
