A serious quarrel is brewing between Poland and Germany
It becomes obvious that Warsaw’s confrontational policy is gradually leading to a deterioration in relations not only with Russia (dialogue with Moscow at the official level, in fact, has already been frozen for several years). Similar processes are also taking place along the Warsaw-Berlin line. And this is already fraught with serious problems, not only of a political, but also of an economic nature.
Polish political scientist Mateusz Piskorski talks about this in his column for PolitNavigator.
The other day it became known that Chancellor Angela Merkel refused a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
Journalist for the German newspaper Die Welt Philipp Fritz claims that all the problems are related to the divergence of views between Warsaw and Berlin on political issues.
The list of contradictions includes dubious reforms of the Polish judicial system, attitude towards sexual minorities, but, above all, the clearly anti-German rhetoric of the Polish state media.
Fritz is certainly right. Firstly, confidence in the Polish justice system was almost destroyed due to the subordination of the courts, up to the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court, to the ruling party. The phenomenon in the European Union is unprecedented and prevents predictable business.
By paying attention to the destruction of the independent judicial branch of government, the German government does not care about the fate of ordinary Polish citizens. Rather, it thinks about the interests of German investors who have invested in the Polish economy.
Secondly, Berlin’s position on sexual minorities and the rights of the LGBT community has long been known. Although here it can be assumed that this is more likely a pretext for criticism of the Polish authorities than the true concern of the Germans for Polish gays.
Finally, the rhetoric of the Polish media and politicians of the ruling party. Undoubtedly, she is openly anti-German. Warsaw accuses Berlin of having too close relations with Moscow, of trying to dominate the EU and of all other possible actions allegedly directed against Central Europe.
However, we should not forget that Poland continues to be in an area of economic dependence on Germany. The severance of trade and economic ties with Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union has led to a situation where the vast majority of Polish exports (over 28%) are sent to Germany.
Poland is considered a kind of “assembly shop” of Germany, and therefore any complication in political relations can significantly affect the growth rate of the Polish economy.
Berlin's recent refusal to contact Warsaw at the highest political level suggests that the crisis phase has already begun. And one should not expect that it will end with the possible coming to power of the German Green Party. Their disagreements with the ruling Law and Justice party in Poland are even deeper and more significant than the conflict with Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats.
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