Mateusz Morawiecki made the declaration ahead of a European Union summit in Brussels on Thursday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
EU leaders were expected to discuss the consequences of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the situation on the energy market, as well as security and defence issues, officials said.
The Polish prime minister told reporters: “I say this loud and clear - Poland is in favour of strengthening the sanctions. We call on all other countries to seal, strengthen and extend sanctions against Russia.”
He added: “We also call for the seizure of the assets of Russian oligarchs and the Russian Federation. This money can be used to rebuild Ukraine and mitigate the effects of Russian aggression on European citizens.”
Morawiecki said these Russian assets may be worth up to USD 400 billion, the PAP news agency reported.
He added that “unfortunately, some countries have proposed removing several Russian oligarchs from the sanctions list," including Russian billionaire "Mr. Kantor, a person responsible, as one of Putin's closest associates, for Russia’s economic interests.”
He stressed: “We are definitely against it.”
Price cap on gas, financial aid to Ukraine, corporate tax
Morawiecki said that Russian assets would help finance the price cap on gas, a topic he said was set to be discussed again during Thursday’s summit.
He called for the EU’s executive Commission to "allocate sizable resources" for “frontline countries on the bloc’s eastern flank that bear the brunt" of the influx of war refugees from Ukraine.
In addition, the Polish prime minister criticised the EU’s plan to adopt a package deal comprising EUR 18 billion in financial assistance for Ukraine and a global tax for big multinationals, among other elements, over Poland’s concerns about that minimum corporate tax, the Politico news service reported.
“Linking assistance to Ukraine with completely unrelated issues, such as the tax on multinational corporations, must be some kind of unnecessary mistake and an attempt at blackmail,” Morawiecki told the media in Brussels, as quoted by the PAP news agency.
Meeting with Italy’s Meloni, Czech Republic’s Fiala
Meanwhile, on the sidelines of the EU summit, the Polish prime minister met with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni and the Czech Republic’s Petr Fiala.
All three leaders represent parties that belong to the same political group, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), PAP noted.
Morawiecki said afterwards that the meeting focused on “the price cap on gas,” adding it was a policy "much favoured" by Italy and Poland, but opposed by Germany.
He also noted this was Meloni’s first appearance at a European Council meeting as Italy’s head of government.
“It was clear right from the start that we agree on a lot of issues, there is friendship between us and we’ll be definitely supporting each other very much,” Morawiecki told reporters in Brussels.
Thursday is day 295 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, wpolityce.pl