Enlarge image
Scholz, Morawiecki in the press conference
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa
The press room on the fourth floor of the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki's office: a Christmas tree with blue balls and flashing lights in the corner, a dozen cameras aimed at the two heads of government.
And a German Chancellor who speaks about the earth and how many people will soon be living on it.
One should not forget, says Olaf Scholz, that the world has many citizens, many powerful governments and new ones are coming, but that Europe will only ever have around 400 million inhabitants.
It is his answer to the question of how the dispute between Warsaw and the EU Commission over Poland's handling of the rule of law will continue.
It should mean: Europeans should see the real challenges, the global threat, and stop tearing themselves apart.
So, or something like that.
"Synchronization is not a good method"
On the fifth day of his term in office as Federal Chancellor, Olaf Scholz is on his third inaugural visit abroad.
While his talks in Paris and Brussels were more like a home game, the first diplomatic challenge is now waiting for him.
Poland is not only involved in a tangible dispute with the EU because of its violation of the rule of law, its relationship with Germany is also tense, the Polish prime minister makes it clear with a volley of strong words.
The idea articulated in the coalition agreement of turning Europe into a federal state is considered absurd to dangerous in Warsaw.
"Synchronization is not a good method for Europe," says Morawiecki.
Europe can only be strong as a "Europe of fatherlands".
According to the will of the Poles, the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is not to go into operation at all.
"We don't want Ukraine to be blackmailed," says Morawiecki.
The question of reparations also reappears, accompanied by an ugly poster campaign across the city in which Angela Merkel and Frank-Walter Steinmeier are compared with Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels, and the first posters with the likeness of Scholz were also seen.
Morawiecki does not go into this, instead he laments the "sea of tears from our mothers" and the "sea of blood from our fathers", the "lost development opportunities" in his country.
The Polish prime minister chose to use pathetic words.
Scholz knows that he is on a mined area.
It would not be his way of answering in equally strong words.
He didn't think it was wise either.
Only two and a half weeks ago, when he was still Vice Chancellor, he met Morawiecki in Berlin.
The planned 15 minutes of one-to-one conversation turned into an hour, they got along very well, it was said afterwards.
Since then, Scholz has been convinced that there is a difference between publicly expressed words and those actually intended.
In order to avoid concrete answers to the controversial questions, he therefore takes the global perspective.
And so he surprises the journalists, who ask him whether Germany is now stopping the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, with another look into the crystal ball.
In 25 years, says Scholz, the world will be very different, including when it comes to the importance of gas.
Germany will then be climate neutral and no longer need gas for heating.
After this consideration, Nord Stream 2 will automatically lose importance.
So why, Scholz does not say aloud, at all, this useless discussion?
Why doesn't anyone think as far as he does?
Scholz likes to think in terms of long perspectives
The wide view is defining for Olaf Scholz.
He is already directing his government action so that the traffic light coalition will be re-elected in four years.
And his campaign, which was to make him Federal Chancellor, had been planned well in advance by him and his inner circle.
Scholz likes to think in long perspectives, which, by the way, sets him apart from his predecessor Angela Merkel.
But such a course is also risky in foreign policy.
Anyone who only argues in broad lines quickly appears arrogant.
And fails to recognize the dynamics that small conflicts can develop.
Belarus is one such example, the action of dictator Alexander Lukashenko to bring masses of refugees to the border to Europe was completely underestimated there.
Scholz assures his Polish neighbor the best possible support for the defense against this "hybrid warfare".
Scholz is silent about whether Germany will also take in refugees, as the SPD party congress had called for in a resolution the day before.
Sometimes, however, rarely, even the Chancellor deviates from his line and becomes astonishingly specific for his circumstances.
When asked about the reparations, Scholz refers to how much Germany is paying into the EU and how many countries have benefited from it.
A happy future can only be guaranteed if equivalent living conditions develop in Europe, says Scholz.
That is why Germany will continue to make its major contribution.
Scholz is likely to be one of the first politicians to use the EU budget to argue against reparations.
Actually, it is said in government circles, one is through with the topic.
Germany has fulfilled all of its obligations.