Poland’s new president, Karol Nawrocki, visits Berlin, and the tensions between the neighbors may affect their efforts to take a united stance against Moscow, writes Politico.
It is no secret in political circles and beyond that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz prefers to work with another Polish leader, centrist Prime Minister Donald Tusk. However, Merz is due to meet with Nawrocki on the 16th of September. The Polish president comes from the conservative right-wing opposition party Law and Justice (PiS), which still demands that Berlin pay reparations for Nazi crimes during World War II.
German-Polish relations have veered from close cooperation to open bickering in recent years. Although the two countries share strong trade ties and close defense cooperation, Nawrocki and PiS politicians have opposed European Union involvement in Poland’s internal affairs. Right-wing politicians are also using the still-unreliable issue of the devastation that Nazi Germany brought to Poland.
Knut Abraham, the German Foreign Ministry’s coordinator for Polish relations, said that relations are very sensitive and that a few wrong words could cause serious problems. Nawrocki, a historian, former boxer and football hooligan, in many ways embodies the branch of Polish populism that worries Merck and its allies the most. The president-elect in June had campaigned on a pledge to demand reparations from Berlin.
The German government has repeatedly rejected this demand.
Even a common enemy – Russian dictator Vladimir Putin – has failed to truly unite German leaders and Poland’s populist right wing. Not even after Russian drones crossed Polish airspace on the 10th of September. Nawrocki has even tried to link the demand for reparations with a united European fight against Russian aggression. At a commemoration of the events of World War II, Nawrocki stated that reparations will not be an alternative to historical amnesia, but that Poland, as the main country on NATO’s eastern flank, needs justice and truth, and clear relations with Germany.
Nawrocki’s spokesman Rafal Leśkiewicz informed that the president plans to address the issue of reparations during his visit to Berlin. He will meet with Merck and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. In order to limit public expression of disagreement, no press conferences are planned.
Despite the tension, Nawrocki may prove beneficial to both Merck and other European leaders – he has the support of US President Donald Trump. Trump supported Nawrocki before his election, and the Pole has also been warmly welcomed at the White House. After the Russian drones arrived in Poland, Trump did not call Prime Minister Tusk, but Nawrocki. This is a cause for internal tension, because despite the veto power, the president’s role is still more ceremonial, and Tusk and his government deal with foreign policy and defense issues. Trump’s efforts to bypass Tusk to some extent put the Polish president against parliament. This means that German and European leaders are unlikely to do anything that could threaten Tusk’s position.
After the Tusk government came to power,
it canceled the demand previously put forward by PiS that Germany pay 1.3 trillion euros in reparations.
Nawrocki has raised the issue. The Tusk government emphasizes that although there is a moral basis for demanding compensation from Germany, it is legally unreasonable and insisting on paying reparations will harm economic cooperation between the two countries. Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said that instead it would be enough if Germany made it clear that it recognized the damage and suffering caused to Poles by the Nazi regime. However, it is clear that such gestures will not satisfy PiS, and Nawrocki will not abandon his demand for compensation.
Rolf Nikel, a representative of the German Foreign Affairs Council and former German ambassador to Poland, said that Nawrocki wants to polish his name in the eyes of the country’s population, and this is a common phenomenon everywhere. However, it should be taken into account that there is a war going on, and everything must be done to preserve the unity of Germany, Poland and Europe. “Anything that gets in the way will play into Putin’s favor,” said Nikel, adding that Nawrocki must decide whose favor to play into.
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