The Germans still cannot recover from the shock caused by Karol Nawrocki’s victory. Slowly, however, they are beginning to realize that the days are over when even rank-and-file officers of the German police and the local Grenzschutz (German Border Guard) could do practically anything they wanted in Poland.
The weekly Focus published an article by Green Party politician Manuel Sarrazin, who writes that the new president poses “a serious challenge for Polish-German cooperation” at a time when, due to the threat to Europe from the aggressive policies of Russia and Belarus, such cooperation is particularly needed. The author notes with undisguised regret that the conflict between Tusk and President Karol Nawrocki “will limit the government’s room for maneuver in policy toward Germany.”
Sarrazin pointed out that although, at least in his view, “critical statements by PiS about Germany were not the decisive factor in Nawrocki’s victory,” a clearly frightened Tusk avoids an open debate about Germany so as not to give political opponents a pretext for attacks.
The Green politician sees potential for cooperation in the military sphere, although he simultaneously notes that with Nawrocki it will no longer be as conflict-free as before. It clearly bothers the German that the new president will focus on developing Poland’s defense industry and – where it is beneficial for our security – on purchasing modern equipment from the USA and South Korea, rather than from Germany, in order to save the German economy even at the expense of Poland’s security and development.
In the pages of the political magazine Cicero, former correspondent in Poland Thomas Urban puts forward the thesis that the strong leader of the Polish right, Nawrocki, could persuade at least some of his supporters to compromise with Germany.
Here Urban shows considerable candor, noting that the uncompromising stance of the Polish right toward the Germans stems from their arrogance toward Poles and from the widespread belief in Poland that Germany holds Poles jointly responsible for the Holocaust and refuses to pay compensation for wartime losses.
Although Berlin considers both accusations unfounded, the German side has so far failed to present convincing arguments that could be accepted by Polish public opinion.
The task of German politicians – Urban explains – will be to convince Nawrocki that the accusation that Germany is rewriting the history of World War II at the expense of Poles has nothing to do with reality. One of the most urgent tasks is also to explain to the Polish side why the German government rejects reparations claims. “The relinquishment of Germany’s eastern territories is considered today in the FRG, regardless of party affiliation, as compensation for the crimes of German occupiers during the war” – writes Urban.
This is an obvious lie, because these territories were never such “compensation”, and Poland, as the German seems to forget, is more than 70,000 square kilometers smaller after World War II than the Second Polish Republic.
Thomas Urban, however, does not spare Tusk, advising “our prime minister” to rely largely on President Karol Nawrocki in foreign policy. “Nawrocki, moreover, by using his good contacts with Donald Trump, can influence the US president to anchor America more firmly in NATO. French President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Friedrich Merz should persuade their partner – Tusk – to give precedence to Nawrocki, at least on ceremonial occasions,” writes Urban, at the same time exposing Tusk’s standing with these politicians.
Will Tusk carry out without question whatever Merz and Macron recommend? Oh, it seems “our prime minister” commands little respect even among German journalists.