Polish FM calls for solidarity to save Euro zone

In a recent speech in Berlin, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski called for deeper solidariity and much closer economic integration in the EU, including greater supervisory powers for the European Commission over national budgets.

During a working visit to Germany, Minister Sikorski, representing his country that holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, delivered a speech entitled “Poland and the future of the European Union”.

He recalled past lessons of disintegration in history and warned that such lessons should be learned with respect to the future of the Euro zone and that of the European Union, as well. The solution as he put it "I would point to the two fundamental values: Responsibility and Solidarity. Our responsibility for decisions and processes. And Solidarity when it comes to bearing the burdens."

"What’s urgent is that we save the Euro zone. What’s important is that in so doing we preserve Europe as a democracy that respects the autonomy of its member states. This new European deal will need to balance Responsibility, Solidarity and Democracy as the cornerstones of our political union," he added.

Regarding the debt crisis, the Minister offered his country as an example. "Successive Polish governments took painful decisions and the Polish people made big sacrifices. Privatisation, pension reform, opening our country to globalisation produced losers as well as winners. We were one of the first countries to introduce a public debt anchor in our constitution."

Minister Sikorski called for Germany not to be passive in solving the crisis in the eurozone. "I demand of Germany that, for your own sake and for ours, you help [the eurozone] survive and prosper. You know full well that nobody else can do it," he said.

As a conclusion, Radoslaw Sikorski pointed out that "this is the scariest moment of my ministerial life but therefore also the most sublime. Future generations will judge us by what we do, or fail to do. Whether we lay the foundations for decades of greatness, or shirk our responsibility and acquiesce in decline. As a Pole and a European, here in Berlin, I say: the time to act is now!"

For the entire speech, please, see: http://www.msz.gov.pl/files/docs/komunikaty/20111128BERLIN/radoslaw_sikorski_poland_and_the_future_of_the_eu.pdf