angelburst29
The Living Force
News reports from Poland have been increasing lately, due to it's involvement with NATO and other activities on the International scene.
Poland will keep an eye on the forthcoming Russia-Belarus joint military exercise Zapad-2017 ("West-2017"), but will not take any extraordinary measures against the backdrop of the drills, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told RIA Novosti in an interview.
Poland to Refrain From Extraordinary Measures in Context of Zapad-2017 Drills
https://sputniknews.com/military/201708061056238275-poland-no-extraordinary-zapad-drills/
The joint drills will take place on September 14-20.
"We were looking and monitoring and observing these maneuvers with great concern, because the scenario of the last two maneuvers was a little bit scary for Poland, because part of the scenario was a military strike and a nuclear strike against Poland, against Warsaw. We are preparing ourselves to monitor these military maneuvers in September. We are not going to take any extraordinary measures, of course." Waszczykowski said.
According to the minister, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will arrive in Poland later in August and Polish officials will discuss the issue with him.
"I think that these military maneuvers of [the] Russians and Belarusian forces are unnecessary, because from our part, from NATO part there is absolutely no inclination of any aggressive posture against Russia. All our doctrines, I mean Polish doctrines, military doctrines, NATO doctrines are defensive. You can look at the deployment of our troops, we can look at the exercise manner of our troops — this is a defensive posture and there is no aggressive doctrine in NATO to attack, to intimidate, to threaten Russia," the diplomat added.
NATO Troops in Poland Pose No Danger to Russian Interests - Foreign Minister
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201708061056238038-nato-troops-poland-russian-danger/
It’s a symbol, it’s a token of determination to defend our part of Europe. We joined NATO in 1999, 18 years ago. And for 17-18 years we didn’t have a deployment of NATO troops on the territory of Poland, the Baltic countries and other part of the [Alliance's] eastern flank. Since the beginning of this year we have the deployment of troops," Waszczykowski said.
The minister added that the deployment was a symbol of determination that NATO would protect its part of the alliance, if "any kind of incidents, a Crimea-style incidents' took place on the Polish territory.
"We are reacting to the increase of military presence of Russia around Poland. This is not that we are creating the problem, we are reacting. For number of years Russia was improving the military presence around Poland. In Kalinigrad Oblast [Region] it’s a major military base, there are thousands of troops, thousands of assets, thousands of 'Iskander' missiles now. So the deployment of an American brigade and a NATO battalion group is a reaction to the growing military presence of Russian troops around Poland," the Polish diplomat added.
"It’s symbolic troops. This is not an important combat presence, which is going to endanger Russia. This is symbolic troops, just as I said, as a proof, as an evidence that this part of Europe is going to be defended. But this presence is not endangering Russian interests," Waszczykowski added.
Poland to Continue Steps to Cancel EU Move to Grant Gazprom More Access to OPAL
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201708061056237973-poland-continue-gazprom-opal-cancel/
Poland will continue its efforts to cancel the decision of the European Commission to grant Russia's energy giant Gazprom more access to the OPAL pipeline, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told RIA Novosti in an interview.
We [have] already initiated some sort of action and there are cases in the European tribunals," Waszczykowski said.
"We will continue our policy, we will continue to pursue this policy in the international tribunals, in the European tribunals and the German tribunals," the diplomat added.
Poland Welcomes US Anti-Russia Sanctions That Could Affect Nord Stream 2
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201708061056237619-poland-welcomes-sanctions-nord-stream/
Warsaw opposes the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and that's why welcomes a new round of the US sanctions targeting Russia that could affect the project, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told RIA Novosti in an interview.
We disagree with a number of European politicians – German politicians and others — that this is primarily a business-based project. No, it is a political project. So if there is an American policy to sanction this project we will welcome these sanctions, because this is the policy, which is going to prevent the initiative, which is going to threaten the energy stability and energy security of our part of Europe. We think that the idea to build Nord Stream 2 and Nord Stream 1 – this idea was against the European solidarity and energy security," Waszczykowski said.
"It is an initiative to bypass Central Europe and in the future to create the possibility for Russia to blackmail Central European countries. Not only Poland, but also Ukraine and other countries. So we are against these projects. We were against Nord Stream 1 and now against Nord Stream 2," the minister said.
Poland to Buy US LNG If Prices Competitive to Gas From Other States
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201708061056237519-poland-usa-lng-prices/
"It’s not decided yet to import gas from the United States. Couple of months ago we received one or two tankers with liquid gas from the United States, it was a pilot technical project, just to prove that there is a technical possibility to import gas from the United States. It was a successful project, but now we are just waiting for the terms and conditions of the contract, future contract," Waszczykowski said.
We will, we are eager to, we are inclined to import gas from the United States on the condition that there is a price, which is competitive to the gas coming the other sources, like from Qatar or from Russia. So far the gas coming from the United States is more expensive. But if they put on the table the contract, which is competitive to the gas importing from Qatar or from other regions, we can consider this," the diplomat added.
'Core' EU Members See Poland & Co. as a 'Burden', Want to 'Isolate' Them
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201708061056233568-eu-poland-tensions-crisis/
The European Union is facing difficulties dealing with some of its newcomers, namely Poland and Hungary. When a dozen Eastern European nations joined the bloc in the early 2000s Brussels expected that they would be easily integrated into the European family; but it was wrong.
According to Bloomberg, a new political crisis is currently brewing within the bloc, based on the inability or unwillingness of certain new members to comply with basic integration principles.
"Poland and Hungary form the rebel core because of their political assault on democratic institutions. Other former communist nations such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania have strayed from the mainstream by rejecting refugees or by plans to make it harder for officials to be prosecuted," the article read.
In an interview with Radio Sputnik, Vladimir Olenchneko, a senior research fellow at the Institute of World Economics and International Relations at the Russian Academy of Sciences, pointed to a drastic difference between the core EU members and its newbies.
"This region [Eastern Europe] was genetically incompatible with the EU and after 13 years we don’t see any progress in their integration into the bloc. They still fall behind in economy and cannot comply with European political values," the expert said.
At the same time, some new members, first of all Poland, managed to develop their economy during their stay in the EU. Now, they have certain ambitions that cannot be ignored by Brussels.
"The concept of these countries as a barrier between Europe and Russia has changed since then. Some of them, especially Poland, claim for a sovereign and independent role in this game," political analyst Alexei Martynov, director of the International Institute for Modern States, told Sputnik.
According to the expert, Poland sees Germany, not Russia, as its main rival in Europe.
"Everything Warsaw does is directed against Berlin. Poland sees Germany as its main rival and the most serious danger. But Poland will never replace Germany whatever it does," Martynov said.
Hungary is another headache for the European Union. The principal issue behind Budapest-Brussels tensions is the refugee crisis in Europe.
"Hungary was one of the first countries to face the influx of migrants. In response, the government decided to close the border and build a fence despite Brussels’ recommendations," the analyst said.
Moreover, Brussels has accused Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban of building an authoritarian state.
The role of the United States in this crisis is ambiguous. On the one hand, the US continues to watch from the sidelines. On the other hand, Poland relies on support from Washington while confronting Brussels. In particular, in early July, US President Donald Trump attended a summit of the Three Seas Initiative in Warsaw where he reaffirmed full support for the Polish government.
As for the prospects of the crisis within the EU, some experts suggest that the tensions are likely to further evolve since Brussel adheres to a rather hardline approach. In particular, some European politicians have proposed using financial aid as leverage over such countries as Poland and Hungary.
Olenchenko noted that currently there is the trend of isolating new EU members from the core part of the bloc.
"The leaders, namely Germany, France and Italy, understand that such countries as Poland are a burden for the EU. I guess they will seek to isolate them. Moreover, there is the concept of a multispeed European integration, according to which the leaders make decisions and the rest follow them," the expert concluded.
European Commission Announces Start of Infringement Procedures Against Poland
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201707291055989116-eu-commission-infringement-procedures-poland/
The European Commission launched an infringement procedure against Poland by sending a Letter of Formal Notice, following the publication in the Polish Official Journal of the Law on the Ordinary Courts Organization on Friday 28 July," the European Commission's press service said in a statement.
On Friday, Poland published the country's new law on ordinary courts in its official journal. EU officials, such as European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, have repeatedly warned Poland from the move saying that the new law violates EU legislation in the issues related to the judicial independence as well as gender equality due to different retirement ages for men and women.
The statement added that Poland had one month to respond to the letter.
According to the statement, Timmermans also sent a letter to Warsaw calling on the country's ministers of justice and foreign affairs to relaunch the dialogue on the issue.
The bill on ordinary courts, allowing the country's justice minister to exert influence on the judges through the power of the judges' mandates prolongation, was signed by Polish President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday.
At the same time, the president vetoed two other controversial bills on judicial reform. The first outlined amendments to the law on the National Council of Judiciary, under which members of the Council would have been appointed by the Parliament. The second draft bill aimed to change the system of appointing the Supreme Court judges and to allow for the dismissal of all current judges not appointed by a justice minister himself.
The EU considers this reform as "undermining the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law", according to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
Poland Has No Possibility to Cooperate With Russia in Smolensk Plane Crash Case
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201708061056238439-poland-smolensk-plane-crash-cooperation/
"For seven years we cannot get information from Russia, we cannot get documents, we cannot get the wreckage of the plane, we have no possibility to cooperate with the Russian justice to get information why this crash happened," Waszczykowski said.
According to the minister, this problem damages the bilateral ties between Moscow and Warsaw.
Polish FM Hopes for Meeting With Lavrov on Sidelines of UNGA in September
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201708061056238959-waszczykowski-hopes-meeting-lavrov-unga/
"I hope also that there will be a chance to meet personally Mr. Lavrov for instance in September in the UN headquarters in New York, also to continue the discussion, the consultations on the security issues, on the [UN] Security Council issues in New York. So maybe this is a chance to reopen the dialogue between Poland and Moscow on a number of issues, because for the next two years in 2018 and 2019 we are going to be a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council," Waszczykowski said.
According to the diplomat, he hops to discuss a number of UN-related issues and later the bilateral agenda.
Waszczykowski added that when Poland was elected to become a non-permanent member of the UNSC he had received a letter of congratulations from Lavrov that preceded a number of positive consultations between the officials of the two foreign ministries.
Poland will keep an eye on the forthcoming Russia-Belarus joint military exercise Zapad-2017 ("West-2017"), but will not take any extraordinary measures against the backdrop of the drills, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told RIA Novosti in an interview.
Poland to Refrain From Extraordinary Measures in Context of Zapad-2017 Drills
https://sputniknews.com/military/201708061056238275-poland-no-extraordinary-zapad-drills/
The joint drills will take place on September 14-20.
"We were looking and monitoring and observing these maneuvers with great concern, because the scenario of the last two maneuvers was a little bit scary for Poland, because part of the scenario was a military strike and a nuclear strike against Poland, against Warsaw. We are preparing ourselves to monitor these military maneuvers in September. We are not going to take any extraordinary measures, of course." Waszczykowski said.
According to the minister, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will arrive in Poland later in August and Polish officials will discuss the issue with him.
"I think that these military maneuvers of [the] Russians and Belarusian forces are unnecessary, because from our part, from NATO part there is absolutely no inclination of any aggressive posture against Russia. All our doctrines, I mean Polish doctrines, military doctrines, NATO doctrines are defensive. You can look at the deployment of our troops, we can look at the exercise manner of our troops — this is a defensive posture and there is no aggressive doctrine in NATO to attack, to intimidate, to threaten Russia," the diplomat added.
NATO Troops in Poland Pose No Danger to Russian Interests - Foreign Minister
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201708061056238038-nato-troops-poland-russian-danger/
It’s a symbol, it’s a token of determination to defend our part of Europe. We joined NATO in 1999, 18 years ago. And for 17-18 years we didn’t have a deployment of NATO troops on the territory of Poland, the Baltic countries and other part of the [Alliance's] eastern flank. Since the beginning of this year we have the deployment of troops," Waszczykowski said.
The minister added that the deployment was a symbol of determination that NATO would protect its part of the alliance, if "any kind of incidents, a Crimea-style incidents' took place on the Polish territory.
"We are reacting to the increase of military presence of Russia around Poland. This is not that we are creating the problem, we are reacting. For number of years Russia was improving the military presence around Poland. In Kalinigrad Oblast [Region] it’s a major military base, there are thousands of troops, thousands of assets, thousands of 'Iskander' missiles now. So the deployment of an American brigade and a NATO battalion group is a reaction to the growing military presence of Russian troops around Poland," the Polish diplomat added.
"It’s symbolic troops. This is not an important combat presence, which is going to endanger Russia. This is symbolic troops, just as I said, as a proof, as an evidence that this part of Europe is going to be defended. But this presence is not endangering Russian interests," Waszczykowski added.
Poland to Continue Steps to Cancel EU Move to Grant Gazprom More Access to OPAL
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201708061056237973-poland-continue-gazprom-opal-cancel/
Poland will continue its efforts to cancel the decision of the European Commission to grant Russia's energy giant Gazprom more access to the OPAL pipeline, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told RIA Novosti in an interview.
We [have] already initiated some sort of action and there are cases in the European tribunals," Waszczykowski said.
"We will continue our policy, we will continue to pursue this policy in the international tribunals, in the European tribunals and the German tribunals," the diplomat added.
Poland Welcomes US Anti-Russia Sanctions That Could Affect Nord Stream 2
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201708061056237619-poland-welcomes-sanctions-nord-stream/
Warsaw opposes the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and that's why welcomes a new round of the US sanctions targeting Russia that could affect the project, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told RIA Novosti in an interview.
We disagree with a number of European politicians – German politicians and others — that this is primarily a business-based project. No, it is a political project. So if there is an American policy to sanction this project we will welcome these sanctions, because this is the policy, which is going to prevent the initiative, which is going to threaten the energy stability and energy security of our part of Europe. We think that the idea to build Nord Stream 2 and Nord Stream 1 – this idea was against the European solidarity and energy security," Waszczykowski said.
"It is an initiative to bypass Central Europe and in the future to create the possibility for Russia to blackmail Central European countries. Not only Poland, but also Ukraine and other countries. So we are against these projects. We were against Nord Stream 1 and now against Nord Stream 2," the minister said.
Poland to Buy US LNG If Prices Competitive to Gas From Other States
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201708061056237519-poland-usa-lng-prices/
"It’s not decided yet to import gas from the United States. Couple of months ago we received one or two tankers with liquid gas from the United States, it was a pilot technical project, just to prove that there is a technical possibility to import gas from the United States. It was a successful project, but now we are just waiting for the terms and conditions of the contract, future contract," Waszczykowski said.
We will, we are eager to, we are inclined to import gas from the United States on the condition that there is a price, which is competitive to the gas coming the other sources, like from Qatar or from Russia. So far the gas coming from the United States is more expensive. But if they put on the table the contract, which is competitive to the gas importing from Qatar or from other regions, we can consider this," the diplomat added.
'Core' EU Members See Poland & Co. as a 'Burden', Want to 'Isolate' Them
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201708061056233568-eu-poland-tensions-crisis/
The European Union is facing difficulties dealing with some of its newcomers, namely Poland and Hungary. When a dozen Eastern European nations joined the bloc in the early 2000s Brussels expected that they would be easily integrated into the European family; but it was wrong.
According to Bloomberg, a new political crisis is currently brewing within the bloc, based on the inability or unwillingness of certain new members to comply with basic integration principles.
"Poland and Hungary form the rebel core because of their political assault on democratic institutions. Other former communist nations such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania have strayed from the mainstream by rejecting refugees or by plans to make it harder for officials to be prosecuted," the article read.
In an interview with Radio Sputnik, Vladimir Olenchneko, a senior research fellow at the Institute of World Economics and International Relations at the Russian Academy of Sciences, pointed to a drastic difference between the core EU members and its newbies.
"This region [Eastern Europe] was genetically incompatible with the EU and after 13 years we don’t see any progress in their integration into the bloc. They still fall behind in economy and cannot comply with European political values," the expert said.
At the same time, some new members, first of all Poland, managed to develop their economy during their stay in the EU. Now, they have certain ambitions that cannot be ignored by Brussels.
"The concept of these countries as a barrier between Europe and Russia has changed since then. Some of them, especially Poland, claim for a sovereign and independent role in this game," political analyst Alexei Martynov, director of the International Institute for Modern States, told Sputnik.
According to the expert, Poland sees Germany, not Russia, as its main rival in Europe.
"Everything Warsaw does is directed against Berlin. Poland sees Germany as its main rival and the most serious danger. But Poland will never replace Germany whatever it does," Martynov said.
Hungary is another headache for the European Union. The principal issue behind Budapest-Brussels tensions is the refugee crisis in Europe.
"Hungary was one of the first countries to face the influx of migrants. In response, the government decided to close the border and build a fence despite Brussels’ recommendations," the analyst said.
Moreover, Brussels has accused Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban of building an authoritarian state.
The role of the United States in this crisis is ambiguous. On the one hand, the US continues to watch from the sidelines. On the other hand, Poland relies on support from Washington while confronting Brussels. In particular, in early July, US President Donald Trump attended a summit of the Three Seas Initiative in Warsaw where he reaffirmed full support for the Polish government.
As for the prospects of the crisis within the EU, some experts suggest that the tensions are likely to further evolve since Brussel adheres to a rather hardline approach. In particular, some European politicians have proposed using financial aid as leverage over such countries as Poland and Hungary.
Olenchenko noted that currently there is the trend of isolating new EU members from the core part of the bloc.
"The leaders, namely Germany, France and Italy, understand that such countries as Poland are a burden for the EU. I guess they will seek to isolate them. Moreover, there is the concept of a multispeed European integration, according to which the leaders make decisions and the rest follow them," the expert concluded.
European Commission Announces Start of Infringement Procedures Against Poland
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201707291055989116-eu-commission-infringement-procedures-poland/
The European Commission launched an infringement procedure against Poland by sending a Letter of Formal Notice, following the publication in the Polish Official Journal of the Law on the Ordinary Courts Organization on Friday 28 July," the European Commission's press service said in a statement.
On Friday, Poland published the country's new law on ordinary courts in its official journal. EU officials, such as European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, have repeatedly warned Poland from the move saying that the new law violates EU legislation in the issues related to the judicial independence as well as gender equality due to different retirement ages for men and women.
The statement added that Poland had one month to respond to the letter.
According to the statement, Timmermans also sent a letter to Warsaw calling on the country's ministers of justice and foreign affairs to relaunch the dialogue on the issue.
The bill on ordinary courts, allowing the country's justice minister to exert influence on the judges through the power of the judges' mandates prolongation, was signed by Polish President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday.
At the same time, the president vetoed two other controversial bills on judicial reform. The first outlined amendments to the law on the National Council of Judiciary, under which members of the Council would have been appointed by the Parliament. The second draft bill aimed to change the system of appointing the Supreme Court judges and to allow for the dismissal of all current judges not appointed by a justice minister himself.
The EU considers this reform as "undermining the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law", according to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
Poland Has No Possibility to Cooperate With Russia in Smolensk Plane Crash Case
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201708061056238439-poland-smolensk-plane-crash-cooperation/
"For seven years we cannot get information from Russia, we cannot get documents, we cannot get the wreckage of the plane, we have no possibility to cooperate with the Russian justice to get information why this crash happened," Waszczykowski said.
According to the minister, this problem damages the bilateral ties between Moscow and Warsaw.
Polish FM Hopes for Meeting With Lavrov on Sidelines of UNGA in September
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201708061056238959-waszczykowski-hopes-meeting-lavrov-unga/
"I hope also that there will be a chance to meet personally Mr. Lavrov for instance in September in the UN headquarters in New York, also to continue the discussion, the consultations on the security issues, on the [UN] Security Council issues in New York. So maybe this is a chance to reopen the dialogue between Poland and Moscow on a number of issues, because for the next two years in 2018 and 2019 we are going to be a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council," Waszczykowski said.
According to the diplomat, he hops to discuss a number of UN-related issues and later the bilateral agenda.
Waszczykowski added that when Poland was elected to become a non-permanent member of the UNSC he had received a letter of congratulations from Lavrov that preceded a number of positive consultations between the officials of the two foreign ministries.
