Another German daily has turned its attention to Poland. This time, Sueddeutsche Zeitung lamented the… abolition of the post of Foreign Ministry (MSZ) Plenipotentiary for Polish-German Social and Cross-Border Cooperation, which until recently had been held by Krzysztof Ruchniewicz. According to the German press, the government of Donald Tusk does not care about “good relations” with its western neighbor.
We have written many times on Niezalezna.pl about what has been happening at the Pilecki Institute since Krzysztof Ruchniewicz took over its leadership. The conclusion is obvious – the reservoir of shocking revelations is hard to exhaust. After the scandal involving Maksymilian Sznepf, the abolition of the Called by Name program, and the phasing out of the Lemkin Center, reports emerged about a seminar Ruchniewicz wanted to organize.
But just a few days ago, the Foreign Ministry, under the leadership of Radosław Sikorski, announced that the position of MSZ Plenipotentiary for Polish-German Social and Cross-Border Cooperation, held by Professor Krzysztof Ruchniewicz, had been abolished.
Today, Hanna Radziejowska also lost her role as head of the Pilecki Institute branch in Berlin, as Ruchniewicz himself announced. Interestingly, it was Radziejowska who – at the beginning of August – confirmed to Rzeczpospolita that Ruchniewicz had wanted to organize a conference on the return of cultural property from Poland to Germany.
Germans angry with Tusk?
It now turns out that the very fact of eliminating the Foreign Ministry position held by Ruchniewicz has… worried Berlin. In Sueddeutsche Zeitung, one can read that this is “another step toward worsening Polish-German relations”. This is surprising, given that the current ruling team generally leans toward Berlin and Brussels (UE), as the public has seen more than once. In fact, even during the 2023 election campaign, there were clear voices of support – and endorsement – for Tusk from the West. “Sikorski abolishes the position of Plenipotentiary for Polish-German Cooperation. His ministry justifies it with the terse statement that it wants ‘to optimize processes’. In reality, the new German plenipotentiary for (Polish-German) cooperation, Knut Abraham, has no counterpart – just like his predecessor during PiS times” – reads the article by Viktoria Grossmann. Moreover, the columnist concludes that “nothing came” of the expected improvement in relations between Warsaw and Berlin after the years of United Right (ZP) rule.
That’s not all. The author wonders what is behind the Polish foreign minister’s decision: fear of a reaction from the “loud” opposition, or… other factors.
Thus, we read: “or maybe the Foreign Ministry simply took the opportunity to get rid of an unpopular topic? A topic from which the government clearly cannot score any political points at the moment. Perhaps it is simply less interested in good relations with Germany than expected. In Berlin, one should ask whether this is also a sign of disappointment”.