The German daily Berliner Zeitung assessed that Wednesday’s visit to the USA was a huge success for Karol Nawrocki and Law and Justice (PiS). The author of the commentary, Jan Opiełka, predicts a further deterioration of Polish-German relations and a tightening of President Karol Nawrocki’s actions against Donald Tusk’s government.
Success of Nawrocki and PiS in the USA
The new Polish president, Karol Nawrocki, and the opposition party supporting him, Law and Justice (PiS), can consider this visit to the USA a huge success. “US President Donald Trump yesterday, on Wednesday, rolled out the proverbial red carpet for his 42-year-old Polish counterpart,” notes Jan Opiełka in Berliner Zeitung.
The Polish publicist writing for the German media pointed out that apart from personal compliments, the Polish head of state received from Trump what both he and the opposition government in Warsaw under Prime Minister Donald Tusk regard as most important for Poland: the commitment that American troops, currently numbering around 10,000 soldiers, will remain in Poland.
Washington divides and rules in Europe
According to the Berliner Zeitung columnist, Donald Trump’s support for Polish national conservatives does not result from ideological affinity, but from a tactic aimed at weakening the EU headquarters. “Supporting conservative and nationalist forces in Europe leads to escalating conflicts between EU member states. Washington acts according to the principle – divide and rule,” we read in Berliner Zeitung.
As the author recalled, President Karol Nawrocki was chosen by PiS as a presidential candidate because of his critical views on the European Union and Germany. Opiełka also pointed to the president’s speech at Westerplatte on the anniversary of the outbreak of World War II, in which he demanded war reparations from Germany.
Negative consequences for Polish-German relations
In a climate of growing nationalisms, also in Poland, such an attitude may not be enough in domestic politics – assessed Opiełka. Strengthened by Trump’s support, Nawrocki will tighten his policy toward the government.
Berliner Zeitung believes this will have negative consequences for Polish-German relations. “The Polish president and PiS are part of Trump’s conservative international that is expanding its influence,” Opiełka quotes the opinion of one right-wing magazine. This means that Poland’s relations with Germany will be “under an even worse star than before,” all the more so because “the prompter from Washington” is rather not interested in Polish-German rapprochement.
By saying that the United States is “considering withdrawing troops from other countries, but not from Poland,” Trump most likely had one country in mind above all: Germany – concludes Jan Opiełka.