EU must take leadership in fighting Covid: Polish FM

Europe will be forged in crises, and will be the sum of the solutions adopted for those crises, was the quote from Jean Monnet that the Polish Foreign Minister used to open his speech during the 6th edition of the international Raisina Dialogue conference on Tuesday.

Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau’s speech was part of the Raisina Dialogue plenary session labelled: “Reclaiming Europe: Navigating the Political Compass”.

The session addressed the consequences of the crisis within the EU, particularly of “common values”, and the EU’s role as one of potential leaders of the post-pandemic world.


The Minister underlined that the COVID-19 pandemic clearly shows the need for leadership and cooperation on the part of the EU. He also noted that effective global response to COVID-19 is only feasible with the collaboration of multilateral institutions. Therefore, the EU needs partners to strengthen values- and rules-based international order, and to breathe new energy into managing global economy.

In his opinion, the key challenges are the divisions and fragmentation of global order, which pose a risk to Europe that had put a lot of effort in building friendly relations.

Poland’s Foreign Minister also addressed the EU’s role to be played in the time of crisis, including its potential to shape global agenda, as an organisation statutorily mandated to promote multilateralism, human rights, and democracy.