Poland and Italy are “fed up with the diktats of European bureaucracy,” said Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, adding that the two countries want to “renew the European Union” together.
“A Europe of homelands rather than a European superstate: We could both subscribe to this,” Morawiecki said in an interview published Thursday with Italian newspaper La Stampa, when asked about the common viewpoints of Italy and Poland.
“Poles and Italians are fed up with the diktats of the European bureaucracy and want real democracy. We want to renew the EU by returning to its founding principles,” he said in his first interview with an Italian newspaper since the most right-wing post-World War II government took office in Italy, headed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Another thing the two countries have in common is their strong support for Ukraine, Morawiecki said, adding that “Vladimir Putin’s neo-imperialist policy is a grave danger not only for Kyiv, but for the whole of Europe.”
When the reporter asked about his thoughts on Meloni’s remarks that the positions of Germany and France count more than others, he answered with an attack on Berlin.
“We are already paying a huge price for the mistakes of German politics in particular, but if Berlin were to decide on everything, the price [of gas] would be even higher,” he said, pointing to Germany’s energy policy, which was controversially dominated by a reliance on Russian gas deliveries before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
He concluded that the rule of unanimity is essential, though some member countries regard it as hindering the EU decision-making process.
“Either there is the rule of unanimity or there is the tyranny of the strongest,” Morawiecki said.
