“By rejecting the SAFE program, Polish President Karol Nawrocki is showing that, in his view, Germany and the European Union are the enemy,” writes the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung in a commentary. German reactions intensified after President Nawrocki vetoed the EU SAFE loan.
On Thursday, President Karol Nawrocki announced in a televised address that he would not sign the law implementing the EU SAFE loan. He stated that he would never sign legislation that undermines Poland’s sovereignty, independence, and its economic and military security.
This triggered anger in Germany. German media have already published articles attacking President Nawrocki.
Viktoria Grossmann, the Warsaw correspondent for Sueddeutsche Zeitung, wrote that Nawrocki, in the case of SAFE, “behaves as if foreign powers wanted to decide about his country.” She argues that by doing so, he “exposes himself to ridicule.” According to her, Nawrocki’s veto “proved that he is merely an obedient executor of Jarosław Kaczyński’s orders,” who has described SAFE as a “German trap.”
But that is not all. Grossmann also writes that today “the main opponent of PiS is not Russia, but the European Union and Germany.” In her assessment, Kaczyński portrays SAFE as “a kind of weapon that would give Germany the ability to attack Poland on capital markets and enslave it again.” In her view, Nawrocki has shown that “Poland, its citizens, and their security are of no concern to him.”
At the end of the commentary, the author notes that “support for PiS is falling in opinion polls” and expresses confidence that the European Commission “will find ways” for Tusk’s government to obtain the funds. As is well known, Donald Tusk wants to take the EU loan at any cost, even if that means bypassing President Nawrocki’s veto.