Poland seeking consensus on EU-UK deal: presidential aide

Asked by BBC HARDtalk show host Stephen Sackur if Poland is willing to risk a breakdown of a deal aiming to stop Britain leaving the EU, which would leave Cameron “in an extraordinary difficult position”, Krzysztof Szczerski, a senior foreign policy adviser to Polish President Andrzej Duda, said: “This is not a tug of war, but negotiations which should follow to consensus.

“So we [the countries in the CEE] are very careful in building consensus. […] But we all know that the deal is better than ‘no deal’,” Szczerski explained ahead of an upcoming European Union summit which will discuss Britain’s future in the EU.

If the UK leaves the EU, “the damage would be on both sides”, Szczerski said.

“The free world cannot afford another crisis. We have already been confronted with so many deep crises in Europe, and the whole democratic free world: with migration, the Russo-Ukrainian war, with the situation in the Middle East, and North Africa. There are so many crises. And to fund ourselves another crisis just on our own, just because of a lack of political skill to find a consensus at the end of the negotiating process, would be damaging for the whole community,” Sczerski said.

He also responded to comments by the show’s anchor that the governing Law and Justice (PiS) party in Poland is “Eurosceptic”.

“I would say that we are eurorealist and patriotic, rather than nationalistic and Eurosceptic,” Szczerski said, adding that Poland would not looking at following in Britain’s footsteps if it leaves the European Union.

Szczerski explained that Poland’s situation is different, being at the “middle of crossroads of Europe”, rather than surrounded by a “sea of self-defence” like Britain. (rg/pk)

Watch the full interview here (will not work for users outside the UK)