Polish foreign minister Radosław Sikorski has slammed the present US administration for attempting to impose its values on Europe.
That includes the US definition of freedom of speech and meddling in the internal politics of European states.
Speaking at a debate during the Munich Security Conference on February 14, Sikorski, who serves in the centre-left Polish Government led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, took issue with an address at the same event by US Vice President JD Vance with regard to freedom of speech.
“The Vice President of the United States told us that our concept of free speech is censorship, and I simply do not accept that”, said Sikorski
“In Europe, for important historical reasons — for example, in Poland — advocating fascism or communism is banned.
“We believe in freedom of speech with responsibility,” he argued.
Sikorski then accused the current Trump administration of attempting to impose its values on Europe.
“The difficulty we face now is that one side of the Atlantic is trying to impose its values on the other, and that is unacceptable,” he said.
In later exchanges with conservative US political scientist Gladden Pappin and Czech foreign minister Petr Macinka, Sikorski rejected arguments against excluding extremist parties in Europe.
“Yes, we exclude fascists,” he said, insisting the threat of fascism and Communism remain real on the continent.
According to Poland’s Constitution, fascism and Communism are defined as totalitarian ideologies and advocating them is banned.
Marxist ideas, though, have not been the subject of campaigns to ban organisations and individuals advocating them. Liberal and leftist politicians and activists have gone on the record claiming that Poland’s right-wing parties should be banned for advocating allegedly fascist ideas.
Sikorski’s remarks prompted some commentators to accuse him of misinterpreting the position of the US administration and of being guilty of sins of which he accused others.
Michael Brendan Dougherty from the American National Review wrote on X: “Most Americans understand the traditional restrictions in Europe. But Vance did not criticise the right to impose restrictions on fascist narratives or Holocaust denial.
“He criticised arresting people for praying or for publishing their opinions on their government’s migration policy.
Commentator Pieter Cleppe wrote “Let me remind you that bad people restricted freedom of speech in Nazi Germany and in the Warsaw Pact states, not good people.”
In his speech at the Munich Security Conference Sikorski also criticised what he described as a break with what he claimed was the unwritten rule of non-interference in Allies’ domestic politics. He cited the US administration’s support for Karol Nawrocki, the opposition PiS-aligned Conservatives (PiS) Polish President.
“Until recently, we had an unspoken agreement not to interfere in allied countries’ party political rivalries. Now, President Trump received a populist candidate for President,” Sikorski said, referring to US President Donald Trump receiving Nawrocki in the White House when he was still only a candidate.
Sikorski further accused Trump of abandoning democratic politicians in favour of authoritarians.
“In the old days we didn’t interfere in each other’s politics. But we did interfere on behalf of democracy in the politics of autocracies and now it’s the other way around,” he added.
The Polish foreign minister said interference in the politics of Allied countries is “completely outrageous”, adding: “In Poland, for example, it’s irrational, because Poland was for years, for decades, the most pro-American country in Europe.
“The United States had a wonderful situation in which the government and the opposition competed over who was more pro-American. Once you start choosing sides, a different dynamic will start,” Sikorski said.
His wife, Anne Applebaum, a US writer, in a recent interview said the present US administration and its narratives were moving her native country in the direction of fascism.
Poland’s right-wing parties have over the past decade been critical of European Union institutions and some member states of interfering in their country’s politics at election times and beyond, with senior EU figures making no secret of whom they wanted to win elections in Poland.
