US President Joe Biden’s speech in Warsaw on Tuesday was met with great enthusiasm across the Polish political scene, as the president expressed loyalty to NATO Treaty’s Article 5 and his readiness to stand with allies, however, the ruling party leader was slightly less impressed.
On Tuesday evening, Biden addressed the Polish nation in the Gardens of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, lauding Ukraine’s heroism in the war with Russia and expressing his solidarity and readiness with its allies.
Though no concrete declaration was made on the further enhancement of US forces in Poland despite Polish leaders voicing such an expectation in recent days, President Andrzej Duda welcomed the assurance of Washington’s continuous commitment to NATO.
“I thank the United States and NATO. I thank the allies for reinforcing our security. The brutal Russian confidence must be punished,” said Duda, who announced Biden’s address.
Other leading Polish politicians also expressed great enthusiasm at Biden’s unwavering support to NATO allies.
“Friendship and the Polish-American alliance are the foundations of the security of Europe and NATO’s eastern flank,” tweeted Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who met with Biden before his speech.
Yet, Polish ruling Law and Justice (PiS, ECR) party leader Jarosław Kaczyński, also present in the Royal Castle Gardens, seemed dissatisfied with the lack of specifics in the US president’s address. Although there was no official reaction from him before the publication of this article, a video recording went viral on Twitter with him commenting right after the speech that Biden actually “said nothing.”
Several Polish politicians compared Biden’s speech with the one Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered before the combined chambers of the Russian parliament at noon the same day.
In his speech, Putin condemned the West for igniting and sustaining the war in Ukraine and announced Russia would suspend its participation in the New START treaty, the last remaining nuclear treaty between Moscow and Washington.
“One day and two different addresses,” insisted Senator Bogdan Zdrojewski from the opposition Civic Coalition (EPP), adding that, while Putin’s message was “full of lies and threats,” Biden spoke of “freedom, democracy, and solidarity.”
“Humiliated Putin delivered his toss to the yawning audience, while President Biden supports Kyiv, builds a wide coalition, meets Bucharest Nine and NATO Secretary General (Jens Stoltenberg). Russia is defeated: strategically, militarily and politically,” tweeted Left (S&D) MP Beata Maciejewska.
The Head of the president’s National Security Bureau, retired Military General Stanisław Koziej, referred to Putin’s announcement of suspending Russia’s membership in the New START Treaty, which he called “another, after earlier statements (…), introduction of nuclear issues to the strategic confrontation” in what he referred to “new, second Cold War of Russia against the West.”
(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | EURACTIV.pl)
Source: euractiv.com
