The ceremony was part of broader anniversary commemorations aimed at honoring twenty years of Poland’s membership in European structures. The event highlighted the importance of the anniversary for the local community and the significance of European integration for Poland.
Arkadiusz Sikora: “Today, on the eve of Poland’s accession to the European Union, on the 20th anniversary of Poland’s accession to the European Union, the Left symbolically laid a wreath in front of the Monument to Independence in Bolesławiec. We know how important the decision and the signing of the agreement 20 years ago on Poland’s accession to the European Union were for Poland, especially today, in the era of conflict beyond our eastern border. We appreciate everything we have received from the European Union, something that we had, in fact, longed for over many generations, because Poland was excluded from this European family for many decades. We achieved this in 2004, and it was precisely the left-wing government, headed by Prime Minister Leszek Miller and Foreign Minister Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, that signed the act of Poland’s accession to the European Union. What does Poland’s accession to the European Union give us? Above all, the free movement of capital and the free movement of residents and people, allowing them to move between our countries in Europe. Today, the European Union has 450 million inhabitants, but that is still little compared with the size of the world’s population, because last year the world’s eight-billionth citizen was born. Today, nation-states are very important and necessary, but on the global stage it is difficult to be a political player. Today, the so-called powers dominate the world and geopolitics: China, India, the United States and great Russia. Therefore, cooperation with the European Union is very necessary. In addition to the free movement of capital and people, the European Union has also invested a great deal of funding. Thanks to being in the Union, today we have excellent roads, kindergartens, schools and nurseries, as well as many foreign investments. Let me recall only that in 2004, when we joined the European Union, unemployment in Poland stood at nearly 20%; today it is below 5%, so this is a tremendous success. I will not even mention the other things that are also very necessary for Poland, because today a major debate is taking place before the European Union about the EU’s foreign policy, about what shape the European Union will take, and whether the states will have a greater or lesser influence on what happens within them. And above all, the nature of policy: agricultural policy, industrial policy and Green Deal policy—these are the matters currently being discussed in the European Union. But the most important issue today, overshadowing all other circumstances concerning the European Union, is a common defense policy and the creation of a common European army. Poland must become very involved in this, because today we can see how important security is, especially in the context of the war beyond our eastern border.