For our freedom and for yours. Duda begins hostilities
(BRUSSELS2 in Warsaw) In a statement delivered today (7 July) to the 'Warsaw Summit Experts' Forum, the President of the Polish Republic Andrzej Duda did not go overboard, defending the specific role of NATO — “NATO in Defense of Peace”. Highlighting " Russia's aggression against Ukraine (which) devastated the international order we knew ". He inaugurated in a way before the hour the NATO summit which takes place Friday and Saturday in the Polish capital.
Facing a Russia that wants to divide the world into buffer zones
Although the international community condemned this aggression, " until the status quo ante is restored, we will have to deal with threats to peace emerging from efforts to divide the world into buffer zones he pointed out.
No more authoritarian regimes
« We need collective action for common security so that the past — when one democratic state after another perished at the hands of authoritarian invaders — will never be repeated. ". A very clear allusion to the Soviet occupation suffered by Poland and the other countries of Eastern Europe.
The enlargement of the Alliance
NATO is " the most effective Defense Alliance in history stressed Duda, extolling the merits of enlargement " to include nations linked by the same aspiration: to guarantee peace to its own people and those of their allies by joining the Alliance ". Which corresponds, he recalled, to the banners carried by Polish soldiers in the past ", which clearly displayed: " For our freedom and for yours (NB: motto adopted by the Polish legions present in the armies of Napoleon (1)).
A permanent NATO presence in the East
« A lasting peace in Europe today depends on a permanent NATO presence in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. he concluded, emphasizing that the four battalions established in the Baltic countries and in Poland was indeed an embryo of a permanent presence.
Comment: Feet in the dish
For several weeks, the diplomats of the Alliance have been striving to demonstrate the "rotational" character of the device rather than its permanent aspect and to underline how much this whole device is very defensive and does not harm Russia... It was necessary to count on a Polish (especially PiS) to break the mood. In agitprop, the Poles are somewhat of specialists. The deal for the summit is therefore launched: it is an anti-Russian summit.
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
Download the speech (English)
Read also: NATO summit wants to face threats from both East and South
(1) The speech in English mentions “For Your Freedom and Ours”. Unless I'm mistaken, the slogan displayed by the Polish soldiers was the opposite.