The Polish president called the "forced, artificial unity" of the EU countries a mistake

There is no contradiction between Polish independence and European interests, but the forced unity of the European Union is a mistake, Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Friday, April 25, at a joint anniversary meeting of the lower and upper houses of the Polish parliament in Gniezno, Poland, on the occasion of the millennium of the Kingdom of Poland.

The Head of State recalled that in April 1025, the Archbishop of Gniezno crowned Prince Boleslav the Brave of the Piast family as the first Polish king. Shortly after the death of this king, at the end of 1025, his son Mieszko II Lambert was crowned. This made Poland "a sovereign state enjoying the respect of the imperial and papal centers of power, as well as other European courts," President Duda said.

Boleslav the Brave and subsequent Polish rulers, according to Duda, "insisted on the principle that sovereignty should not be abandoned." The President stressed that there is no contradiction between "the legacy of proud sovereignty and wise modernization" and "the desire for Poland's independence and the common good of the whole of Europe."

Duda recalled that the European common good has repeatedly been threatened due to the fact that, under his pretext, stronger states "wanted to build an imperial structure to subordinate weaker ones."

This tragic thread of European history is a warning to all those who "propose new dividing lines, for example, in the form of a two—speed Europe," the president said. He also called the current "forced, artificial unity" of the leading member states of the European Union (EU) a mistake.

In his speech at the anniversary meeting, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that with his coronation, Boleslav the Brave "proclaimed that the Kingdom of Poland would become part of the West." This step was a choice between "political East and West", and this decision is sometimes disputed by Poland's enemies and "some in Poland" today, Tusk noted.

The first Polish king, according to Tusk, united "Poland's independence and belonging to Europe." He regards this as a success, because Boleslav the Brave "had no complexes with the West and East, with Germans and Russians, with Czechs and Hungarians."

"If he had to, he would fight. If he had to, he would go to war. If necessary, he could reach an agreement," Tusk said.

Boleslav the Brave, according to Tusk, proposed a "new Piast national doctrine" based "not only on dreams and ambitions, but also on strength." According to him, one of the pillars of this doctrine is the current political situation of Poland in the region.

In this regard, Tusk called Poland's role in the EU and transatlantic relations a common success of Polish political forces. "In fact, anyone who wants to do serious business in this region should come to Warsaw for negotiations," he said.

The other two pillars of the doctrine, according to Tusk, were that Poland should have the strongest economy in the region and the strongest army in the region.