Szydło: Polish-Latvian relations ‘important for energy security’

Poland’s Prime Minister, Beata Szydło, said this week that security in the region and providing stability within the EU were the two most important issues for both Poland and Latvia. She was speaking with her Latvian counterpart, Maris Kucinskis at a press conference on Thursday before their meeting. “We're following the same path. For both Poland and Latvia the security in our region and, of course, the survival of the European Union are the most important matters at the moment, and therefore [we must] find solutions that will be acceptable to all Member States and will make the EU even stronger,” Szydło stated after the meeting with Kucinskis. She also added that energy security was another important topic discussed at the meeting. She stressed that Poland does not agree with the decision of the European Commission on the OPAL pipeline, which awarded Russia’s Gazprom an extension on bandwidth for the pipeline that passes through Germany parallel to the Polish-German border – allowing the company to increase its transporting of gas to the Baltic Sea while bypassing Poland. In addition to Thursday's press conference, the Polish PM thanked the Prime Minister of Latvia for caring for the Polish minority in the Baltic state. She also emphasized that Poland and Latvia have a lot of common issues and projects.