Mateusz Morawiecki made the declaration after arriving at the EU summit, which was being held in Brussels, Belgium, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The European bloc’s national leaders were set to discuss Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and continued EU support for Ukraine, as well as economic issues and energy policy, among other topics, officials said.
Russia’s abduction of children from Ukraine
Morawiecki told reporters that the Polish delegation would raise the issue of Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children during a working lunch discussion with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.
He noted that Poland last month announced a joint initiative with the EU’s executive Commission, designed to track down Ukrainian children who have been illegally deported to Russia, and bring those responsible for their deportation to trial.
Morawiecki said: “The European Commission realises that Poland can be the best partner in publicising this issue internationally. We have also been asked for this by the Ukrainian side.”
He added that the abductions “are an extraordinary act of barbarity on the part of Russia and we want to bring up this issue on the international stage.”
Poland to push for additional funds from European Peace Facility
Morawiecki said he would also raise the issue of the European Peace Facility (EPF), which helps EU states replenish their army stocks for weapons shipped to Ukraine.
The Polish prime minister said his country had already received some PLN 200 million (EUR 43 million) from the EPF for the purpose.
He declared: “We’ll also seek to secure a further sum of EUR 240 million, which will probably flow to Poland in the coming weeks. I hope to be able to announce it before Easter.”
Sanctions against Belarus, single market, migration
Morawiecki also told reporters ahead of the EU summit: “The third issue is Belarus, which serves Russia as, one might say, a mechanism to bypass sanctions for dual-use products, and here we are warning against this and pointing out the very unfortunate role of Belarus in the war in Ukraine.”
He added: “The fourth topic is the EU single market. We want it to include, to a greater extent, the service market. I will also raise the issue of tax fairness and tax havens.”
The Polish prime minister stated: “The fifth matter is migration.” He told reporters that Poland would seek “additional funds” from the EU budget to counteract illegal migration through the Belarus border.
He noted that Poland had already received EUR 200 million for the purpose.
Morawiecki said that his government was securing “huge funding from the EU" for its "policy tasks” amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and migration pressures.
“This is good news for the Polish people, good news for Poland,” he said, as quoted by the PAP news agency.
Thursday is day 393 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, dziennik.pl