Poland dupes Germany: Kaczynski speaks of a threat to Europe

Created: 12/04/2022 10:14 am

By: Astrid Theil

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of the national-conservative ruling party PiS in Poland.

© Hubert Mathis/ZUMA Wire/dpa

Jaroslaw Kaczynski criticizes German "dominance" in Europe and sees it as a threat to all member states.

Warsaw – The leader of the Polish ruling party PiS, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, has denounced German “dominance” in Europe.

During an appearance on Saturday (December 3) in south-west Poland, he said Germany wanted to use peaceful methods today to carry out plans it once wanted to use military means to carry out.

According to Polish news agency PAP, Kaczynski said in his speech that Europe's strength lies in the strength of its sovereign states.

He therefore condemned "the situation of dominance, a situation in which one of the European states, today the largest after Russia, is carrying out plans with peaceful methods that it once wanted to carry out with military methods".

This is leading not only Poland, but all of Europe into crisis and disaster.

"And this country too, Germany," Kaczynski continued in his speech.

Autumn 2023 parliamentary elections: Anti-German and Eurosceptic rhetoric from the PiS government

Kaczynski is considered the most important strategist of the ruling right-wing populists and is currently traveling through the Polish provinces in the run-up to the parliamentary elections scheduled for autumn 2023.

The Polish opposition sees a connection between the anti-German and Eurosceptic rhetoric of the ruling party and the forthcoming election campaign.

Several actions by the PiS government had recently caused irritation in German-Polish relations.

Ten days ago, Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) and her Polish colleague Mariusz Blaszczak agreed that German Patriot air defense systems should be stationed in the NATO country to protect Polish airspace.

Shortly thereafter, Blaszczak duped Berlin by proposing to station these systems in western Ukraine instead.

PiS boss Jaroslaw Kaczynski had previously brought the idea into play.

Irritation in the German-Polish relationship: 1.3 trillion euros in reparations

At the beginning of October, Poland had also demanded the equivalent of more than 1.3 trillion euros in compensation in a diplomatic note to Berlin for the damage suffered as a result of the Second World War and the German occupation.

The federal government rejects any claims for reparations and sees no legal basis for them.

A survey published on Saturday (December 3) revealed that around half of Poles are dissatisfied with the national-conservative PiS government's policy on Germany.

The survey was conducted by the SW Research Institute on behalf of the Rzeczpospolita newspaper.

Accordingly, 50.5 percent of those surveyed rate the policy of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki's government towards Berlin negatively.

In contrast, 18.7 percent endorse Morawiecki's course, and another 30.8 percent said they had no opinion on the subject.