In an interview with Central European magazine Visegrad Insight, Sikorski criticized Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s anti-Western rhetoric and his alliances with Russia and China, while discussing Poland’s emerging role as a regional leader in security and defense.
He also rebutted Orbán’s recent
allegations that Poland is conducting business with Russia through intermediaries, emphasizing that, unlike Orbán, who frequently aligns with authoritarian regimes in Moscow and Beijing, Poland maintains a different policy.
“We wouldn’t allow Chinese policemen to patrol the streets of Warsaw,” he said, referring to an
agreement between Beijing and Budapest that permits Chinese police officers to patrol in Hungary alongside their Hungarian counterparts.
He argued that Orbán’s recent “peace trips” to China and Russia have only served to enhance his PR credentials without producing substantive results as Hungary appears isolated in the EU.
“At the last FAC [Foreign Affairs Council] of the European Union, Hungary did not have support for its position,” Sikorski said, adding that Hungary appears isolated “because of their own selfishness.”
Sikorski also criticized Orbán’s attempts to walk a tightrope between Moscow and Brussels, adding that far from increasing Hungary’s leverage, it only “irritates everyone.”
He also dismissed the notion that Orbán’s pro-Russian narrative is gaining traction in the EU, emphasizing that instead, “in Western Europe, political elites’ consciousness is being de-Russified.”
Sikorski also said that when it comes to present-day Russia, force, not concession is the right policy to adopt.
“With Russia as she is today, peace cannot be brokered because she wants to profit from aggression. Therefore, responding to this with force and not with concessions is necessary,” he said.
Poland’s role in security and defense
Turning to broader issues, Sikorski highlighted Poland’s role as a regional leader in security and defense, adding that in these two fields “Poland is a supra-regional leader.”
He emphasized the need for increased defense spending, arguing that the 2% of GDP allocation to defense agreed at the recent NATO summit in Washington should be increased in light of the global threats.
“Today, we are in a time of crisis, so this figure should be higher,” he said.
Sikorski stressed in the interview that countries on the eastern flank of the EU, which have more modest resources, should not be responsible for financing the defense of wealthier nations.
He argued that if Putin is a global threat, then the financing of measures to counteract this threat should be shared jointly across the continent.
“If we agree that Putin is a threat to the whole of Europe because he sends death squads all over Europe, recruits arsonists, attacks cybernetic networks, threatens nuclear weapons, uses energy blackmail, and sends refugees… then the funding of measures to counter this threat should also be common,” the Polish foreign minister said.
