Polish premier: EU should be military power

Poland’s Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has said he wants the European Union to focus on becoming a military power like the US.

In an interview with European Voice, Kaczysnki said his personal view of the future of Europe was for the EU to "constitute a power similar to the US".

Speaking on his first official visit abroad since becoming prime minister in July, the Polish premier said he supported a "strong political Europe" which should also be a "true military power…like the US". "If [former Serbian President Slobodan] Milosevic had had Israeli troops he would still be laughing in the face of the world today," he said to illustrate the importance of military strength.

In order to concentrate more on external affairs, Kaczynski said that the EU should restructure its budget and "phase out" agricultural subsidies. He admitted, however, that getting agreement to this as part of the Union’s planned review of spending in 2008-09 would be the "toughest element of the plan".

"My personal opinion is that we should consider a completely different vision of Europe," he said. "We should be down-to-earth and think about renegotiating a few provisions of the EU constitution."

While the EU should have "its own military force", "deal with energy security" and focus on "supervision of the free market", Kaczynski said that member states should have "much more freedom in certain domains" and he cited the example of state aid.

"If a government wants to give aid, there should be general limits and rules but decisions would be taken by the member state itself," he said.

The issue of state aid is a bone of contention between the European Commission and the Polish government. Warsaw is due to present the European Commission with a revised plan on restructuring the shipyard sector amid concern that the government may have provided more funding than is allowed under EU state aid rules.

Kaczynski met European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, European Parliament President Josep Borrell and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on his visit to Brussels.

Asked to comment on the "suspicion" of his government in Brussels, Kaczynski said: "After today’s meetings you can already say that I am not regarding Europe with suspicion, and they [EU officials] are not regarding me with suspicion either."

He also dismissed claims that his government was guilty of economic populism or nationalism. "The best measure of populism is economics," he said, pointing out that he had been fighting to keep Poland’s public deficit to 30 billion zloty (€7.62bn), less than the 3% limit laid down in the Maastricht treaty. He pledged that he would hold new elections if this limit was not respected.

During press conferences in Brussels, Kaczynski also fended off charges that his government was fostering intolerance, particularly towards gays. He pointed out that Poland was one of the first countries to outlaw discrimination against homosexuals and insisted that gays faced no barriers to playing a full part in Polish life. "There are homosexuals in Poland who have very high positions in politics and even on the right of politics," he said.

Kaczynski’s party was criticised after his brother, Lech, the Polish president, banned a gay pride march as mayor of Warsaw. Members of the government coalition have also made controversial remarks about gays.

Kaczynski’s visit to Brussels was aimed at improving his government’s sometimes fraught relations with the EU’s institutions.

Speaking after a meeting with the Polish prime minister, Commission President Barroso said he had "no reason to feel concerned about Poland’s commitments to the common values of the EU".

Poland’s Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has said he wants the European Union to focus on becoming a military power like the US.