In an interview with the weekly magazine Sieci, Kaczyński said inflation in Poland was linked to a sharp increase in energy prices on international markets and there was little the government could do about it.
He added that a recent decision by the National Bank of Poland (NBP) to raise interest rates could help bring down inflation during the next few months, but did not represent a definitive solution to the problem, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency reported.
Kaczyński, who serves as a deputy prime minister, said the spike in energy prices across Europe was in large part due to mistakes made by Western politicians in dealing with Russia, notably the West's go-ahead to the controversial pipeline linking Russia with Germany, Nord Stream 2.
The gas link had been staunchly opposed by Poland and other countries in its region.
“Russia is already taking advantage of Nord Stream 2,” Kaczyński said in the interview.
“The winter is coming, yet instead of filling up the warehouses, they emptied them, which is resulting in a steep price hike," he argued.
Kaczyński predicted that as "a consequence of the West’s errors," President Vladimir Putin’s Russia would earn more money from selling gas.
“We know what to expect as to how these additional profits will be spent,” Kaczyński reflected in the interview, which was published on Monday.
Jarosław Kaczyński. Photo: PAP/Paweł Supernak
Poland's President Andrzej Duda said in July that an agreement between Washington and Berlin that allowed the completion of Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany posed a risk to the security of a large portion of Europe.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki warned last year that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline would allow Russia to buy weapons with European money.
Morawiecki has previously called Nord Stream 2 “a new hybrid weapon” aimed at the European Union and NATO.
(pm/gs)
Source: IAR