Morawiecki: Kremlin behaves like a 'drug dealer'

The Kremlin acted like a “drug dealer” because, initially, it offered cheap gas, but now we know that the real price was the blood of soldiers, people, women and children in Ukraine, Poland’s prime minister has told CNBC.

In an interview aired on the US CNBC news channel on Friday, Mateusz Morawiecki said that “the real price of agreement between Germany and Russia” were gas shortages and high prices of both gas and electricity all over Europe.

He added that these were problems European countries need to solve together. “We want a level playing field, we want a single European market to function,” Morawiecki added.

“It cannot be solved that one country which is the richest and the most developed in Europe, like Germany, and countries surrounding Germany, can block everything which is now happening,” Morawiecki said. “At the very same time, this very rich country is dedicating a huge pile of money, EUR 200 million… for their own industries.”

Right before Friday’s EU meeting in Prague, the Czech capital, the countries of Poland, Italy, Belgium and Greece drafted a proposal for the European Union to introduce a “dynamic price corridor” for gas, in an attempt to reduce energy prices and soaring inflation.

When asked by CNBC if changes in European gas policies were possible in the face of opposition from countries such as Germany and the Netherlands to the “price corridor,” Morawiecki replied: “We don’t want to be patronized by some countries which then behave in a completely different way than they were expected to… and they are doing opposite to what they were saying just a couple of years ago.”

Morawiecki also referred to the issue of the “real price of gas.” He explained that “the real price of gas is the blood of soldiers and people, children and women in Ukraine. And the real price of gas is the current harsh winter coming in Europe.”

He added that countries, such as Norway, “belonging to the free world” and selling gas at elevated prices to the European Union and Great Britain, should rethink their strategy.