Prince William’s visit will certainly strengthen Polish-British relations; Polish-British relations are really very good, said the head of the presidential BPM, Marcin Przydacz, on Thursday. The head of the presidential Office of International Policy was asked on TVN24 on Thursday about the visit of the British heir to the throne, Prince William, in Poland. William arrived in Poland on Wednesday; his visit had not been announced in advance.
When asked about the reasons for keeping the visit secret, Przydacz pointed out that “we have agreed with the British side that we do not disclose to the public who and when exactly arrives”. “This was the request of the British side, also for security reasons – I am not talking only about physical security, but also image security; we respected the request of British protocol, therefore the information came out last night,” he said.
Przydacz was asked about the political significance of Prince William’s visit and its possible concrete consequences. “Polish-British relations are really very good, but please remember that the system of power in Great Britain (is arranged) in such a way that it is exercised by the government and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, with whom President Andrzej Duda saw not so long ago a long time ago in London, a few days later Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki also saw him,” he recalled. As he assessed, “this visit will certainly strengthen Polish-British relations.”
“This is the second time that Prince William visits Poland. (…) Such a renewal of these specific, basically strategic Polish-British relations – I think that is what we should focus on today; while the specifics are already established through diplomatic channels and in political relations with Downing Street,” he stressed. Asked for information about the possibility of deploying British Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft in Poland in place of the MiG-29 aircraft transferred by Poland to Ukraine, Przydacz replied that “even if it were the subject of discussion with Prince William, I would not be authorized to speak about it publicly.” He added that on the British side, there are “government spokespersons, foreign and defense ministers” for this type of discussion.
Prince William arrived in Poland for an unannounced visit on Wednesday. In Rzeszów, he met with British and Polish soldiers stationed there, as well as with the Deputy Prime Minister, head of the Ministry of National Defence, Mariusz Błaszczak. Then he went to Warsaw, where, together with the mayor of the city, Rafał Trzaskowski, he visited a residence point for Ukrainian refugees. On Thursday, the heir to the throne will meet with President Andrzej Duda. (PAP)
author: Mikołaj Małecki mml/ mrr/