Jarosław Kaczyński (L) and Viktor Orbán in 2017
“It was a slightly exaggerated reaction” on the part of Karol Nawrocki that, contrary to the original plans announced by the Warsaw office of the head of state, the Polish president did not meet with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán during his visit to Hungary in early December, Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of the main Polish opposition party, said on Monday.
The leader of the Law and Justice (PiS) party responded to questions from the host and viewers in an extensive interview broadcast on the new Polish conservative YouTube channel Kanal TAK! including what he thought about the cancellation of the Nawrocki-Orbán meeting.
“I think it was a slightly exaggerated reaction,” Kaczynski said, adding that he understood President Nawrocki, who “for obvious reasons was not present” at the high-level Polish-Hungarian meeting held in January 2016 at the castle in Nedec, southern Poland. Jarosław Kaczyński, then leader of Poland’s ruling party, and Viktor Orbán “identified the differences between them after a whole day of discussions” in Nedec, recalled the PiS president.
He added
that these differences are “significant, but in no way diminish the importance of our cooperation on issues where we agree.”
One such difference concerned relations with Russia, Jarosław Kaczyński noted, adding: “Orbán was honest about this and said: gentlemen, we have different experiences with Russia and Germany.”
However, this does not hinder Polish-Hungarian cooperation in the defense of national sovereignty, “normal moral values,” and relations with the United States, Jarosław Kaczyński emphasized.
He stated that Karol Nawrocki had “made a different decision” regarding the meeting in early December, “it has already happened, there is no point in dwelling on it.”
In the historical experience of Poland and Hungary, “there is a huge gap in this specific issue,” and it was “for this reason that the Polish head of state made the decision in question,”
the PiS chairman stated.
Via MTI, Featured image: Wikimedia Commons / Kancelaria Sejmu / Paweł Kula
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