Sunday, July 10, 2022

For Poland, Germany is toxic


 German newspaper 'Welt am Sonntag' (World on Sunday) has an analysis of Polish-German relations. 

According to Philipp Fritz, Polish-German relations have been deteriorating for many years. Now, trust in the government in Berlin, especially in the SPD, is "close to zero" in Poland. The German government has ignored Polish security interests for too long. Instead, they have implemented projects such as Nord Stream 2. In turn, verbal attacks by Polish politicians on Germany and alleged by the European Commission (and Germany) the "violation of the rule of law" in Poland contributed to the negative image of Poland in Germany.

The Berlin authorities' wait-and-see attitude towards the war in Ukraine destroyed at a breathtaking pace the trust in German politics in large part of Polish society and the political class - says the paper.

The head of the SPD, Lars Klingbeil, felt it during his recent visit to Warsaw - writes Fritz. The head of the party from which the German chancellor came was only received by Włodzimierz Czarzasty, a leader of the New Left party. The government representatives did not have time for a German." As long as these people rule in Berlin, we do not see any reason to change our attitude, said a Polish diplomat who wished to remain anonymous.

It has come to the point that Polish officials - from the lowest level to the top - rarely strive to improve relations with Germany, Fritz points out.

"Anyone who tries this despite everything has no chance of a career, neither in the administration nor in the ruling PiS party," writes the author, emphasizing that Germany has become "toxic" from the Polish point of view.

There are a few things that the author misses, doesn't know, or hides from the readers. German politicians actively support opposition parties in Poland trying to remove the current government by stirring a popular revolt over the recovery funds that all other EU members received except for Poland and Hungary. They are not even hiding it. The EU bureaucrats openly suggest that the money will only be transferred when there is a new government, not conservative, in Poland.

Regarding the 'rule of law' issue, Germany has done precisely the same things, and nobody even blinked because Garmany is a stable democracy.