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Annalena Baerbock in Warsaw: The new style in German foreign policy

2022-10-05T14:32:40.663Z


Annalena Baerbock in Warsaw: The new style in German foreign policy Created: 05/10/2022 16:19 By: Anna-Katharina Ahnefeld During her visit to the insurgents' cemetery in Warsaw, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock reacted with dismay to the descriptions of a survivor. © Christoph Soeder/dpa During her stay in Warsaw, Foreign Minister Baerbock was confronted with allegations. She managed not to


Annalena Baerbock in Warsaw: The new style in German foreign policy

Created: 05/10/2022 16:19

By: Anna-Katharina Ahnefeld

During her visit to the insurgents' cemetery in Warsaw, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock reacted with dismay to the descriptions of a survivor.

© Christoph Soeder/dpa

During her stay in Warsaw, Foreign Minister Baerbock was confronted with allegations.

She managed not to back down and still conveyed the feeling that Poland was taken seriously.

Warsaw – Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock's trip to Poland has just come to an end.

Two issues overshadowed the visit on German Unity Day: Polish demands for reparations and allegations of a lack of willingness to help Ukraine.

Actually, the German-Polish friendship should be celebrated.

Instead, there was a delicate meeting between Baerbock and Poland's Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau on Tuesday (October 4).

The minister's two-day trip abroad turned out to be a balancing act between declarations of solidarity with Warsaw in view of the Russia-Ukraine war - and decisive words on the billions in reparation demands.

Obviously there: With Annalena Baerbock, a new style has moved into the Foreign Office.

The 41-year-old believes in the value of honesty and shows a willingness to experience authentic emotions.

Her motto: Politics for people can only work if you understand them.

Annalena Baerbock in Poland: The trip is a balancing act between showing solidarity and saying no to reparations

This approach could already be observed on the first day of the trip.

At the reception of the German Embassy in Warsaw on the Day of German Unity, Annalena Baerbock was approachable and addressed emotional words to the Poles.

At the beginning of her speech in the marquee on the brightly lit embassy grounds, the Green politician recalled – as on previous occasions – an event that shaped her: Poland's accession to the European Union on the night of May 1, 2004: “The people on the bridge

(Editor's note: Europa Bridge between Frankfurt/Oder and Słubice)

the happiness of Europe was written all over its face.

For me, this feeling, this happiness, is inextricably linked to your country.

That's why I'm very happy - and it was very important to me personally - to be able to spend the Day of German Unity in Warsaw today."

The meeting with Polish survivors of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 seemed to move the minister deeply.

She continued to use the evening to emphasize the importance of the bilateral relationship.

She spoke of a "heart friendship" and said: "We will be there for you, just as you were there for us when we needed you most urgently."

Baerbock did not mention the Polish demands for reparations sent to the Foreign Office on the same day.

Tensions in German-Polish relations, which have been on the decline for months, could only be heard in a subordinate clause.

So she spoke of a friendship that you have to work on, "as difficult as it may be again and again".

Her central message of the evening remained: "The security of Eastern Europe is Germany's security." A remarkable sentence that reveals the geopolitical changes as a result of the Russian invasion war, after the federal government had for decades looked primarily at Russia's sensitivities.

Baerbock visit to Warsaw: Foreign Minister introduces psychology to politics

So while the Foreign Minister dedicated the first day of her trip to Poland to words of support and assistance from Poland and Eastern Europe, the second day was about the recent massive demands for reparations.

A deliberate affront to put them on the agenda of the meeting.

At a press conference in the foyer of the Foreign Ministry in Poland after meeting Baerbock, Foreign Minister Rau made it clear how serious he is about the demand by citing the trauma of the German occupation of Poland as an "obstacle" to bilateral relations.

In this situation, Baerbock's balancing act between appreciation and a clear line became obvious.

The Foreign Minister's facial expressions were controlled and tense for large parts of Zbigniew Rau's speech.

She only nodded in agreement when she came to the topic of the Ukraine war and the condemnation of the Russian invasion.

However, she clearly showed how affected she was by the demands for reparations and the associated trauma of the German invasion of Poland in World War II.

And so she spoke about large parts of her statement about the moving encounters with survivors of the Warsaw Uprising, about the pain in Poland.

Germany stands by its historical responsibility.

However, she rejected the reparation demands.

The attitude of the federal government is clear, he also knows that, she said in the direction of Rau.

She did not respond to the anti-German campaign of the right-wing conservative governing party PiS.

The Foreign Minister showed empathy without deviating from her political course.

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Baerbock in Poland: A lot of empathy, but a clear line

Baerbock said she knew how present the suffering inflicted by Germany was in Poland.

She spoke of transgenerational trauma.

Baerbock addressed Rau: It was “repeatedly noticeable how present this pain is to this day.

And not just among 90-year-olds, but also among nine-year-olds, because this pain is passed on from generation to generation.” Germany is perhaps not always and every day aware of this, work needs to be done on this, for example in the areas of education and culture of remembrance.

"There is not as much that separates us as unites us," said the German Foreign Minister.

And even if the question of reparation payments for Germany has been legally clarified, the moral level is different, here it is necessary to take a closer look at the points in the German-Polish friendship treaty that are not yet filled with life enough.

At the panel discussion that took place shortly afterwards at the Warsaw Security Conference, including with the State Secretary for European Affairs, Konrad Szymański, Baerbock made it clear how important it was for her to restore trust that had been lost.

The central message of their stay: We are here for you and take the doubts about Germany's solidarity in the Ukraine war seriously.

She said she was personally concerned about the sometimes sharp attacks, such as the sometimes hesitant attitude of the federal government when it came to arms deliveries.

The Foreign Minister admitted that it pained her deeply to hear the current doubts about German integrity.

Baerbock's trip to Poland: the Foreign Minister's strengths in dealing with people

It was a trip that clearly revealed the tensions between Poland and Germany.

Baerbock's greatest strength came at the very end of their stay.

On the way to the airport, the delegation stopped at the minister's last-minute request at the insurgents' cemetery, where the victims of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 are commemorated.

Her encounter with a survivor named Wanda Traczyk-Stawska provided touching moments.

Leaning on her walker, the old lady led the German minister through a newly opened memorial in the cemetery.

Baerbock replied to the descriptions, "I'm breathless," and held her hand.

There are moments that make the new style in the Federal Foreign Office obvious: being close to the people, listening, understanding.

And use this knowledge to set an example.

The fact that this new style is also bearing fruit on the world stage was evident during the joint press conference between the minister and her counterpart Rau.

While his younger colleague had given a 20-minute lecture on her first visit in December 2021 and had been instructive, the 67-year-old Polish politician was respectful to Baerbock this time - and that at a time when German-Polish relations were currently at their lowest point relationship.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-10-05

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