Sputnik: Are Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic justified in their criticism of the EU’s desire to increase spending on Frontex?
Jake Rachwalski: As Viktor Orban said, Hungarians should be looking after their own borders and we’ve seen them recently successfully look after their borders. I don’t really believe Frontex is as necessary as it would have been a couple of years ago, but it seems as though it’s a political response by the EU to the problems they’ve had recently with the open borders, which of course the EU and Germany started.
The EU should be investing in states that are willing to protect their borders such as Hungary and Italy and obviously helping them out, because they are at heads with the EU.
Jake Rachwalski: Poland has benefited economically and you see a lot of Poles working and going to university in the UK and in other parts of Europe as well. I think it has been beneficial for Poland but it’s had its problems and Poland is trying to help reform the EU, along with Hungary and other Visegrad nations.
The EU, although it’s had its problems is still very much popular amongst Poles, so I think what Poles are looking for is to reduce the power of the EU and give it back to the state, which are the kinds of reforms that countries such as Hungary and Poland are talking about.
The views expressed in this article are those of the speaker, and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.