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Jerzy Buzek does not hold any institutional function today, but Jerzy Buzek is an institution in himself – said Adam Szłapka, Minister for European Union Affairs, about the former prime minister. Buzek was honored with the special award Campus Polska Przyszłości. During the panel, he said that “Ukraine must be a member of the European Union and NATO.”
Jerzy Buzek is the first person to be honored with such a statuette. “Jerzy Buzek shaped the history of Poland” – said Adam Szłapka about him. He recalled that Buzek was the first Pole to receive a high position in the European Union – he became the President of the European Parliament.
Buzek received a long standing ovation from the meeting participants and, clearly moved, joked that “laudations are usually exaggerated”.
In his conversation with Campus participants, Buzek said, among other things, that the current government should absolutely survive until the end of its current term. “It needs a full four years, I can’t imagine the coalition falling apart before then. It has to last to change Poland,” the former prime minister emphasized.
As he argued, “transformation is also needed today, after 30 years of a free system”. “Because many things have been wasted. Transformation is based on institutions and procedures” – he argued. He also convinced young people to take an interest in politics, to act together for the common good and gave examples that joint action can change reality.
“Many years ago, there was no action in the EP on energy security – the Russians turned off the gas tap in 2006, 2009. That’s why I said: we are creating an energy community, we will buy gas based on joint orders. And it caught on,” he argued.
Buzek devoted a lot of space to the issue of “the necessity of Ukraine joining the European Union and NATO”. He emphasized that then – and not before – it will be necessary to change the EU treaties. “We have to open the door to Ukraine even if they are not fully prepared” – assessed the former prime minister. According to him, however, “it will not be easy”.
“It will be a difficult task, because they (Ukraine – PAP) have black soil and when they sow something on it, it grows like weeds. But this cannot stop them. We have to agree on certain amounts that they can introduce to the European market,” he noted.
He also stressed that Poland “is a whistleblower and ally of Ukraine in the face of the aggression and war provoked by Russia. “There is no greater advocate for Ukraine than Poland and that is why our significance in the Union is greater than we can sometimes imagine,” he stated.
One of the participants asked Buzek what to do to prevent Europe and Poland from “turning brown”. The former prime minister admitted that this was an important and difficult issue. “You have to explain social factors to young people, then the fascination with this ideology quickly fades away” – he argued.
Concluding the meeting with Campus participants, Buzek emphasized that “young people are the future of our country, Europe and the world”. “This is your responsibility. I envy you for that. All the best,” he said.
The meeting with Jerzy Buzek was interrupted for a minute at 6 p.m., when tributes were paid throughout Poland to the firefighters who died in Poznań. All participants stood up, and after a moment of silence, they rewarded the deceased with applause.
