Speech by Speaker of the Sejm Marek Kuchcinski at the opening of the conference

Solidarity and sovereignty: Parliamentary meeting of states

Central and Eastern Europe

Warsaw, 31 August 2016

The European Union, and with it all of Europe, is experiencing its deepest crisis since its inception, causing soaring international tensions.

In fact, it is an accumulation of crises:

• Eurozone (economic), in the form of, for example, the growing debt of member states and very weak economic growth,
• security - Above all, the EU's helplessness in the face of terrorism and Russia's aggression against Ukraine,
• Schengen area (social), caused by the influx of millions of migrants crossing the "green border" into Europe,
• Brexit-related implications (EU structural and functional crisis) caused, among other things, by extra-legal expansion of powers by EU institutions.

The EU is not coping with these crises. Distrust of European institutions is growing, EP voter turnout is falling, and anti-integration sentiment is on the rise in many countries.

All these factors are straining European solidarity, whose foundations so far have been: 1) the possibility of voluntary unification of European states

2) guarantees to live in peace and security for citizens of all European countries; 3) solidarity and subsidiarity leading to the eradication of poverty.

Therefore We should think together about the future of Europe and the EU. How to strengthen the EU and whole Europe? I believe that there is a need to develop a common position of the Central and Eastern European countries on this issue. Because Europe is a broader concept than the European Union, and the European Union is part of Europe. We should take these relationships into account when looking for prescriptions for the aforementioned crises, as well as striving to strengthen and give sustainability to the EU. Our goal is to strengthen the EU through its renewal.

The principles of the European Union, the largest international organization on our continent, are being violated today, and solidarity and subsidiarity have been questioned in many cases. Pre-existing differences of opinion have deepened. Also about the shape of the Union, also about its openness to more countries. The division into:

- strong Western European states demanding the closure of the EU, i.e. tightening integration towards federalization,

- States of the new Central and Eastern European members raising numerous "too many" objections to the functioning of EU institutions and

- countries outside the EU, which have been denied any influence on the shape of the organization.

The tendency for the EU's most significant problems to be decided by different configurations of states, which sometimes resemble the infamous concert of powers from 200 years ago, has also been reinforced.

Poland and Poles, despite their great support for the idea of European integration, do not equate the EU with all of Europe. The parliamentary majority in the Sejm, like the majority of my compatriots throughout the country, believes Reducing Europe to the EU as harmful. In our opinion There is no EU security without guaranteeing security throughout Europe. This attitude is also anchored in fairly recent history, during the "Cold War" and "Iron Curtain" era, when most of the wide Central and Eastern Europe has simply been pushed out of the consciousness of people in other parts of Europe, the so-called West at all. For them, we ceased to be Europe, and became part of a hostile communist empire.

We Poles have been in the EU for 12 years and in NATO for 17 years, but our eastern neighbors are not in these organizations. Poland, on the other hand, wants to develop the eastern and southeastern borderlands of the EU and NATO in very close cooperation with these organizations. And if more countries express such a will, we will support their membership aspirations. We don't want to build walls that will again divide Central and Eastern Europe.

In the spring of this year, a declaration was drafted in the Polish parliament Europe of solidarity states, which I sent to the presidents of national parliaments in all European countries. This document ends with the words: "recognizing the need for a debate on the future of Europe in lieu of the demand for "greater, deeper integration." we propose to consider the concept of a Europe of solidarity states arranging their relations within the EU according to the principle: "free with free, equal with equal".". This is our position today and will continue to be so in the years to come. And this is the position we want to extend to all of Europe.

Europe's strength has always been in its diversity, The ability to learn from historical experience and the ability to make changes, good changes.

Therefore pI propose that the Europe of solidarity states, has become a basic model for our discussions and activities  - in the belief of responsibility for whole European Union and whole Europe.

The project of a Europe of solidarity states was based on three assumptions political:

• The future of Europe and the EU should be decided by a debate of all member states organized according to the principle of equality;
• The EU must not be an international organization closed to other European countries, as they, too, constitute Europe's identity and potential;
• It is not possible to ensure the security of the EU without security on a continental scale, that is, without ensuring the security of each country represented in Warsaw today, with the leading participation of the North Atlantic Alliance.

Today we propose to discuss two main topics.

• 1/ Renewal of the European Union and regional cooperation in Central and Eastern Europe, i.e. how policies in and towards the EU should be shaped to strengthen the sovereignty of our countries.
• 2/ National Parliaments for Multilateral Cooperation in Our Part of Europe, or in search of the best model of cooperation: from common values to the realization of common interests

In our view, between countries wide Central and Eastern Europe, all countries, regardless of EU and NATO affiliation should be establish a forum for inter-parliamentary discussion nt the future of the continent. The forum is could be parliamentary summit of Central and Eastern Europe. On this forum discussions would be led by representatives of our parliaments (presidents, presidencies), that is, state institutions elected by the sovereign-nation.

Forum would be guided by overarching principles solidarity and sovereignty.

In order to ensure the effectiveness of future consultations, it would be worth considering establishment of a working group composed of political advisors to the presidents of our countries' parliaments. Such a group would prepare an agenda for possible meetings and implement the formulated conclusions.

In conclusion, I wish us all a fruitful exchange of views and opinions on European affairs.

Today, history is accelerating, Europe is changing, and may it change with our participation and in the direction we desire.