Polish President Andrzej Duda has hailed Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s incoming prime minister, on a visit to Rome. He expressed hope that their countries can now “together change the EU into what we want it to be”. Meloni thanked Duda for his words and pledged to “jointly defend our common values”.
During an interview with Italian broadcaster RAI during his visit, Duda said in Italian: “I am Andrzej, I am a man, I am a father, I am a Catholic.”
His words were an adaptation of Meloni’s famous declaration this year: “I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am Christian. No one will take that away from me.”
Italy’s new Prime Minister, Giorgia Melo’s speech is inspiring. 🙏
She just wants to be able to call herself a woman, a mother, a Christian, an Italian.
Ironically, identity politics destroys our identities. “Everything that defines us is now an enemy.”pic.twitter.com/tvDmHSAIpI
— Fr Calvin Robinson (@calvinrobinson) September 26, 2022
“What Giorgia Meloni, the future prime minister of Italy, says in her speeches is very consistent with our view, and with my view of the world,” Duda told RAI, in quotes carried by the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
“[We have] a very similar ideological profile,” he continued. “We are also people of faith, we also consider the system of Christian, Catholic values important, and we also put a strong emphasis on the family.”
Poland’s ruling national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, from which Duda hails, is part of the same European grouping as Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (FdI), which has its roots in post-fascist politics but has sought to distance itself from that legacy.
FdI’s victory in Italy’s parliamentary elections last month was welcomed by PiS figures. Prime Minister Mateusz Morawieckisaid he was “happy that a tremor is running through the EU”, which, following further nationalist success in Sweden’s recent elections, is becoming a “Europe of real values”.
Earlier this month, Morawiecki joined Meloni, Donald Trump and Viktor Orbán in addressing a global right-wing rally in Spain. The Polish prime minister warned that “Brussels bureaucrats are…creating a transnational beast without true and traditional values, without a soul”.
Speaking to RAI this week, Duda expressed hope that Poland and Italy can now “together change the EU into what we want it to be”, which is “a union of free nations and equal states” that cooperate but “do not interfere in each others’ affairs, such as religious, ideological and cultural issues”.
In response, Meloni tweeted thanks to Duda. “I am also convinced that Italy and Poland can and must strengthen their collaboration to jointly defend our common values and European security,” she wrote.
Ringrazio il presidente della Polonia, @AndrzejDuda, per le parole di apprezzamento espresse nei miei confronti. Sono convinta anche io che Italia e Polonia possano e debbano rafforzare la loro collaborazione per difendere insieme i nostri comuni valori e la sicurezza europea. pic.twitter.com/LY0aqMhcJs
— Giorgia Meloni 🇮🇹 ن (@GiorgiaMeloni) October 19, 2022
During a week when pro-Putin remarks by Silvio Berlusconi – a likely coalition partner in Meloni’s government – have come to light, Duda also told RAI of the importance of “stopping Russian imperialism for the security of Europe, for the security of the world”.
“We [Poles] know what a Russian attack means, what Russian occupation means,” he added. “We know that the Russians must be stopped. We support the Ukrainians because they are resisting Russian imperialism.”
In his remarks, the Polish president also criticised the EU for not providing more significant support to countries hosting Ukrainian refugees. Brussels has given Poland around €145 million for that purpose, while the country is estimated to have to spend €8.36 billion on helping the refugees this year.
The EU has given Poland €145 million to help with the costs of helping Ukrainian refugees
The interior minister notes that the amount is "small" compared to Poland's costs, which the OECD estimates at €8.36 billion this year, more than any other country https://t.co/XSvr22zIi4
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 20, 2022
“It is a pity that the EU institutions, the left-liberal political circles that rule today in the European Commission and European Parliament, are not able to look at this issue honestly and support a country whose people are helping others with their hearts in their hands,” said Duda, quoted by PAP.
During his visit to Rome, Duda spoke at the World Food Forum, where he emphasised that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has threatened global food security. The two countries are among the world’s largest exporters of grain, but supplies have been disrupted by the war.
The Polish president also met with his Italian counterpart Sergio Mattarella for talks focused on security, military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine and energy supplies.
Main image credit: Grzegorz Jakubowski/KPRP
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
