Andrzej Duda made the televised speech on the evening of New Year’s Eve, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The head of state said: “We live in dangerous times - a full-scale war is under way beyond our eastern border. Europe has not seen such a conflict since the end of World War II. Russia’s brutal aggression against an independent and democratic Ukraine has brought death, pain and suffering.”
The president stressed that “the imperial policy of Vladimir Putin’s Russia” and the Kremlin’s “barbaric aggression” was also affecting Poland, in the form of “the energy crisis, rising prices, the economic slowdown and uncertainty about what tomorrow will bring.”
‘We opened our hearts and homes to our neighbours in need’
Duda stated: “Yet despite this uncertainty, despite the many challenges and problems, we, the Polish people, have opened our hearts and homes to our neighbours in need. We didn’t allow ourselves to be divided. We didn’t succumb to Russian propaganda and disinformation.”
The president told compatriots: ”It’s a phenomenon that’s being talked about around the world. It’s a stance we can be proud of. In 2022, we have passed the test of our humanity, solidarity and patriotism with flying colours. Again, I would like to thank you so much for this, with all my heart.”
‘National security is an absolute priority for Poland’
The head of state stressed: “For Poland today, an absolute priority is security, the security of Poland, the security of Polish men and women. You can rest assured that Poland is secure. In the year 2023 that’s about to begin, I will be doing everything to strengthen this security.”
He declared that Polish authorities were determined to ensure the country’s “military security, internal security and the security of borders.”
The president added: “However, of equal importance is the energy security, health security and economic security of Polish families.”
Duda cautioned: “These issues will be enormously significant in the coming year, especially because it’s an election year, which as we know, brings with it even more political disputes and even more emotion.”
He urged: “That’s why already now, I am appealing to the entire political class to rise above political divisions in matters to do with the security of the Polish people; to exclude these matters from party-political disputes.”
‘Resolving rule-of-law dispute would be beneficial for both Poland and EU’
The president also stressed that membership of the European Union and NATO was in Poland’s national interest.
With regard to EU membership, he stated: “Membership of the EU ensures our economic security and enables the country to develop. And after the COVID-19 pandemic and amid the effects of the war, Poland really, badly needs to develop.”
Duda added: ‘That’s why in February, just before the war broke out, I proposed a compromise. Resolution of this dispute [between Poland and EU over the rule of law] is in the interests of both Poland and the EU as a community, because unity should be crucial in these difficult times.”
He stressed: “However, it must be a wise and honest compromise, one that doesn’t breach the constitution and guarantees Polish people legal security. This is a fundamental issue for me.”
‘We can succeed in 2023, but we must work together’
The president went on to say: “We, the Polish people, have lived in Europe for more than 1,000 years. We have a magnificent history we can be proud of. And we have a big future. In the year 2023 that’s about to commence, we can succeed as a state and as a society, but we must work together.”
He told the nation: “And so my wish for you is that we are able to rise above the things that divide us and search for the things that connect us. That, regardless of our views and beliefs, we are always able to talk to each other in a kind way and that we are always able to shake hands with one another in a gesture of reconciliation.”
The president concluded his address by wishing compatriots a “Happy New Year!,” the PAP news agency reported.
Saturday was day 311 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
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Source: PAP, prezydent.pl