Speech by Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, at the Polish Heads of Missions Conference

Deputy Prime Minister, dear Radek,

Ambassadors, 

Ladies and gentlemen,

If I had to sum up the relationship between France and Poland, of course I would choose these words from General de Gaulle during his state visit to Poland in 1967: “Poles and Frenchmen have so much in common. Century after century, our two nations have never fought one another. On the contrary, the fortunes of one have always been bound to the fortunes of the other.”

De Gaulle knew Poland first-hand. In 1919 and 1920, he served in the French assistance military mission, taught tactics at the War Studies Academy of Rembertów, fought at the Battle of Warsaw in August 1920, helping stop Russia’s Bolshevik Army advance into Europe.

And he was right. For more than a thousand years, France and Poland have never gone to war against each other. That is almost unique in Europe.

History has always found us on the same side: from Napoleon and Marshal Poniatowski’s Polish Legions to General Haller’s army, from Monte Cassino and Normandy, fighting for the same cause: freedom.

What binds France and Poland is more than history. It is a shared refusal of fatality. The belief that freedom is always worth fighting for, and that hope is never lost. That is why the words of Pope John Paul II – “Do not be afraid” – still speak so powerfully to both our nations. 

It was in Paris that Adam Mickiewicz wrote these lines: “My homeland! You are health alone. Your worth can only ever be known by one who has lost you.” France was his land of exile – but also the place where hope for Poland endured.

In 1943, Polish Consul General Władysław Marcinkowski found refuge in Yssingeaux, sheltered by members of the French Resistance, among which my own grandfather, Noël Barrot. Since then, the history of our two families has been intertwined.

I know that it is also the story of Radek Sikorski, your story, Radek: the story of millions of people who refused to surrender, the story of Polish resistance, the story of French resistance during the Second World War in which Poles were the most numerous foreign combatants. The story of Solidarnosc. An ideal that some in the Kremlin still seek to extinguish, but which continues to inspire Europeans determined to remain free and masters of their own destiny.

That same spirit brought France and Poland together on May 9, 2025, when President Macron and Prime Minister Tusk signed the Treaty of Nancy. It pledges to build “a safer, more sovereign, more democratic and more united Europe,” recognizing our “special responsibility for the future of the European Union.”

Today, we meet at a moment of profound disruption. Many believe the 21st century will be defined by the rivalry between two superpowers, the United States of America and China. A rivalry that will inevitably lead to some form of confrontation, and that will force every nation to pick sides. 

Let’s take a brief look at the past. At the end of the Cold War, the fall of the Soviet Union created an illusion that Western victory would be permanent. At the same time, parts of the world experienced this era not as a liberation but as a form of hegemony. And from that frustration emerged the rise of China. In half a century, its share of global GDP rose from 2% to 20%. Last year, its trade surplus exceeded one trillion dollars. Through the BRICS, it challenges the diplomatic weight of the G7 and its army counts more than two million personnel, the largest in the world, ahead of the United States. And Washington’s response is already visible: tariffs, technology restrictions, military reinforcement in the Indo-Pacific.

History offers a name for this moment, even though it is debated, the Thucydides Trap, the tension between an established power and a rising one that often leads to confrontation. Look back to five centuries before Christ, Sparta faced it when Athens rose and it chose war to prevent Athens from reaching dominance, the Peloponnesian war. Thirty years later, both cities, Sparta and Athens, were exhausted and then came a third actor, Macedonia, which went on to conquer the Greek world. 

What does this tell us about the world we live in and the future ahead of us? At best, a fragmented world divided into spheres of influence. At worst, confrontation between two super powers, permanent members of the Security Council and nuclear powers. Either way, it means a more instable world and we have seen this in the past few months: a dictator overthrown in Venezuela, as the rules of international law are simply cast aside, a war with Iran threatening to disrupt the strait of Hormuz, territorial threats on a territory under the protection of NATO in the Arctic, Chinese ballistic missile tests in the Pacific designed to maintain constant pressure on Taiwan, an arms race in artificial intelligence as Washington and Beijing tighten their grip on the world’s most advance models. 

And as if the rivalry between the US and China was not enough, another so-called empire is trying but failing to rewrite history, Putin’s Russia. Unable to compete through innovation or prosperity, it seeks influence through coercion, hybrid attacks, cyber operations, sabotage, violation of European air space and above all, the colonial invasion of Ukraine, the most blatant attempt to redraw borders by force in Europe since World War II. History leaves little room for doubt, whenever Russia has embraced imperial ambitions, Europe’s security has paid the price: from the partitions of Poland to the Cold War, from Budapest and Prague to Georgia and Ukraine, the pattern is always the same.

But, and there is a “but”, let me quote a young Polish journalist covering Russia’s Afghan war under the nickname of Rahim forty years ago: “When the Soviet Politburo had decided on a bleak December day in 1979 to send the tanks in, none of them, in their worst dreams, could have imagined what a disaster it would prove to be, involving a decade-long isolation, Western rearmament and a vast waste of men and money.”

Forty years later, Putin’s imperial ambitions are the latest chapter of that same history and the defining security challenge Europe faces today.

So, how do we find a way out of this disaster? Well, in this geopolitical equation, there is an unknown variable, a decisive variable, and that is Europe. But for Europe to change this geopolitical equation, two conditions must be met.

Condition number one: Europe must become truly sovereign.

Since President Macron’s Sorbonne speech in 2017, calling for European strategic autonomy, Europe has indeed made decisive progress. 

On security, in just 10 years, France has doubled its defense budget, has supported the development of a strong European defense industry, of a strong European pillar of NATO. Look at our commitment to NATO's eastern flank. Look at our Rafale deployments right after Poland's airspace was violated last September. Because the Treaty of Nancy is not a paper tiger. Look at our contribution to NATO’s Forward Land Forces in Finland, in Sweden, which President Macron announced yesterday in Ankara. Look at the new stage of our nuclear doctrine, Forward Deterrence. 

On prosperity, Europe is a market of 450 million people, the largest in the world. Our task is clear: deepen the single market, simplify our rules and invest in the technologies that will shape the future. 

Security, prosperity… and democracy. We are building a European democratic shield to defend our elections, our democracy against disinformation and foreign interference. We can be proud of our Weimar cooperation, of the cooperation between France Médias Monde, Deutsche Welle and the Polish public television. 

That is the first condition. Europe needs to be more sovereign and independent. 

Second condition, Russia must fail in Ukraine. And to make that happen, we must act on four fronts. 

One, support Ukraine. Since the beginning of Russia's war of aggression, the EU and its member states are the main supporters of Ukraine in the world. The historic 90 billion loan to Ukraine is further proof that Europe can act decisively when history demands it. The results are already visible, tangible. Ukraine is gaining ground while Russia is paying a heavy price. 35,000 Russian soldiers are lost every month. Putin is exhausting his people, undermining his economy and squandering Russia's place in the world, relegating his country to the sidelines of history. We have also helped shift the American position. Yesterday, President Trump announced that the United States would authorize Ukraine to produce Patriot missiles under license. And finally, we have opened the first chapter of accession negotiations, which marks a decisive step on the country's path towards the EU.

Two, pressure Russia. Sanctions are working. Russia is increasingly isolated. Its GDP contracted in the first quarter of 2026 and achieved its worst performance in three years. Our resolute action against the Russian shadow fleet also has strong deterrent effects. Now we must raise the costs even higher. The 21st Sanctions Package that should be adopted next Monday will strike Russia's financial sector while further cutting the energy revenues that sustains its war machine. 

Three, prepare for peace. We launched the Coalition of the Willing. EU members, together with partners such as Norway, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Japan are delivering the bulk of support to Ukraine and preparing the security guarantees for the future. Next Monday, France will host the Coalition in Paris to take it to the next stage. The future of Europe belongs to Europeans. “France and Poland have a special responsibility for this future.” Those are the words of the Treaty of Nancy. We will have to build a stronger European security architecture with France and Poland as core pillars. It is not a question of old versus new Europe. It's about peace and war, about freedom versus serfdom. 

And four, win the battle of narratives. Russia wages a constant campaign of hybrid attacks against our democracies. France and Poland are among its primary targets. Ambassador Herczynski was shamefully targeted in Georgia, alongside his German and French colleagues. Dear Radek, I know your personal commitment on X and your epic battle against the “Big guy”, and I welcome the close cooperation between our teams and services. Our answer must be clear: detect, expose and respond. That is why France created French Response, an official X account that breaks the traditional rules of diplomatic communication. Never surrender the information space, neither to Pravda, to Russia Today, nor to Truth Social. This also means defending Europe's right to regulate its own digital space. Our democracies cannot remain free when the algorithms shaping our public debate escape democratic control. We must challenge Russia wherever it seeks influence. Take Africa. Russia claims to be a strategic partner. The facts say otherwise. The EU invests 200 times more - 200 times more -, trades 20 times more, and welcomes 10 times more African students than Russia. 

That is precisely why you Europe is under attack, not because it is weak, but because it represents an alternative to Vladimir Putin's vision of the world. 

Europe built one of history's most ambitious political projects, the European Union. Eight decades of peace, eight decades of democracy, freedom and prosperity. Look at the results. Europeans live longer, healthier and freer lives than people in either the US, China, or Russia. Inequality is lower too. This is a model worth defending. 

Sitting in the front row, Poland knows that European sovereignty is the first line of defense for our freedom. Today, ten countries, maybe more, want to join the EU. What other political project inspires such attraction? As Victor Hugo once wrote, “France and Poland are two sisters who have fought together for European civilization.” That struggle has not ended. It has changed, but it calls for the same determination. And I know, dear Radek, that France and Poland will continue to lead it. 

France stands with Poland as allies, partners and friends, and together we will keep building Europe. 

Thank you very much, dear Radek, for your invitation. 

Thank you all.