The Warsaw Summit of the Presidents of the Visegrad Group Parliaments was inaugurated with a meeting in Wilanów. Among the guests invited by the Speakers of the Sejm and Senate were: László Kövér, Speaker of the Hungarian National Assembly, Andrej Danko, President of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, Jan Hamáček, President of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, Milan Štĕch, President of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic.

 

Speech by Speaker of the Sejm Marek Kuchciński:

Honorable Presidents, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

John III Sobieski, in whose summer residence we are now, was an outstanding monarch of the Republic of Poland and a great leader. He became famous for his victory in 1683 at Vienna over the Ottoman Empire in defense of Christianity and Europe against the Islamic invasion.

Today, just as Sobieski did in the 17th century, we want to ensure the existence of an independent and sovereign Poland that will be able to protect its citizens. We can do this by strengthening cooperation in Central Europe.

This is all the more expected as we have war in the East and continued migration into Europe. The European Union is in crisis after the British resignation. Countering these processes requires wise decisions. Today, Central Europe is a region of relative peace and cooperation. But historians warn us that it is easy to lose peace in our region. This is how the rich and secure Central Europe that existed between the 14th and 16th centuries fell. Those were our golden days.

The European Union must be renewed and in this endeavor the Central European countries should be particularly active. Renewal will not be achieved by the European institutions; it should be the result of a debate between sovereign member states. Parliamentary diplomacy will play an important role in this, working to strengthen the position of national parliaments within the European Union.

Our former Republic was famous in Europe for many of its political and social features, but also for its material and spiritual culture. So I decided that today at the table reigned the cuisine of the seventeenth century, the time of King John III. The dishes served today have been prepared according to the recipes of Stanisław Czerniecki - the first cook of the First Republic of Poland, who was ennobled by King John III for his contribution to the culinary art. For centuries, his cookbook was obligatory reading at courts from Buda, Bratislava and Prague to Paris and Madrid.