Paweł Wroński: Poland's position at the EU's summit on the Russia-Georgia conflict will be unanimous. Our delegation will be headed by the president, but he fully accepts the cabinet's position. Are you happy with this?
Radosław Sikorski: The president is the head of state, so he leads the delegation, and according to the constitution, he cooperates with the cabinet, which is in charge of foreign policy. So naturally he'll present the cabinet's position.
Wroński: But there may not be enough chairs to seat the Polish delegation. The hosts usually prepare two per delegation. Will someone agree to give up his place at the table?
Sikorski: It doesn't matter. The foreign minister will serve with his advice irrespective of the row in which he sits.
Wroński: Polish politicians originally pledged to present a tough position at the summit, but have recently avoided using the word 'sanctions', which was mentioned, for instance, by the French foreign minister
Bernard Kouchner.
Sikorski: It depends on what you mean by 'sanctions'. If proposals are made in Brussels acceptable for all member states, we'll discuss them. Right now the positions are being formed. I talked yesterday to the foreign ministers of the former enslaved countries, we'll see how the situation shapes up during the summit. My view is that besides condemning Russia we should focus on what is within our capacity. That is, reflect on how we can help Georgia as well as strengthen our partnership with it, but also with countries such as Ukraine and Moldova. How to promote their euroatlantic aspirations. The EU's energy policy also needs to be re-examined. Instead of concentrating on how to harm Russia, let's reflect on how to help Georgia and the EU's eastern neighbours.
Wroński: You can hear in German diplomatic circles that such help should depend on whether President Saakashvili introduces democratic reforms.
Sikorski: President Saakashvili was under the pressure of the events and didn't avoid mistakes that the Georgian people will critically review at the ballot box. But it is one thing to discuss the Georgian president's mistakes and quite another when Russian troops ruin and plunder Georgia, expel its civilian population, and so on. The EU wants to help Georgia and its people.
Wroński: President Kaczyński said in Tallinn that the original cause of the conflict was not the Georgian operation in South Ossetia, but the recognition of Kosovo's independence, which our government did rashly.
Sikorski: In some countries, criticising your own government abroad would be seen as unpatriotic. In fact, there are those who say that partly responsible for the present crisis are politicians who let the Georgian president believe he had unconditional international support. And, as we know, when things came to a head, even those viewed as his closest allies didn't help him. That's worth remembering. As far as Kosovo is concerned, I'm somewhat surprised that part of our right wing adopts here the Russian government's optic. Kosovo has two million inhabitants, was for years administered by the UN, and has already been recognised by close to fifty countries. It's really a different case than South Ossetia.
Wroński: What do we know about Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov's visit to Poland?
Sikorski: The preparations are pending. It may be the Russian foreign minister's first visit to an EU country following the Georgian crisis. I hope nothing happens to jeopardise it. We're attaching great significance to this visit.
