Sikorski ‘European’ speech penned by British diplomat?

Screenshot of Sikorski's speech with Charles Crawford's name appearing as the author in the file's metadata.

A number of Polish websites claim that the author of Sikorski’s speech is in fact Charles Crawford, a former UK ambassador in Poland between 2003-2007.

Sikorski’s speech [file here, PDF] last Monday urged Germany to help lead Europe out of the financial crisis, with Poland’s chief diplomat saying that ke now fears “German power less than […] German inactivity.” In essence, the speech gives the go-ahead for a German-led federal Europe and calls for deeper integration within the bloc.

The allegation comes after Sikorski’s speech, which is freely available for downloading on the Polish Foreign Ministry website, names Crawford as the document’s author (see picture).

Charles Crawford has since denied the claim, stating on his blog that “anyone who knows Radek Sikorski will recognise his own inimitable style throughout the text.”

According to Crawford’s blogpost, “the Polish Foreign Ministry has put out a statement to the effect that for substantive and linguistic purposes the Minister had consulted all sorts of people including myself on the speech, and then written it himself , making changes even on the plane to Berlin.” (jb)