Federal Council President Schwesig is not traveling to Warsaw

EA visit by Federal Council President Manuela Schwesig (SPD) to Warsaw planned for February has been canceled. It was “not feasible at this point due to the domestic political situation there,” said the head of the State Chancellery in Schwerin, Patrick Dahlemann, to the FAZ on Thursday

The Prime Minister of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania said in her inaugural speech as Federal President that “German-Polish relations are particularly close to her heart.” A good relationship with Poland is as important as one with France. At the time, Schwesig referred to her alleged special connection to the neighboring country and her place of birth near the border. Therefore, her first trip abroad as President of the Federal Council will take her to Poland. “The aim is to improve German-Polish relations at the national level,” the state chancellery said.

In January, Schwesig said that she hoped that the change of course in Warsaw would strengthen ties. Just on Wednesday, the German-Polish discussion group “Copernicus Group” called in a working paper to overcome “standstill and alienation” between Germany and Poland and to revive dormant formats of cooperation.

Why the relationship is strained

However, Schwesig's connection to Poland is strained because of her extremely Russia-friendly policy and her commitment to the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which was sharply criticized by Poland – even if it is now said in Schwerin that the Nord Stream 2 issue is “if at all, then only a marginal aspect” been in the matter. At the time, the state government had set up a cover foundation to circumvent American sanctions and thus be able to complete the pipeline; From the perspective of the opposition in Schwerin, the Russian company Gazprom had great influence on the state government at the time.

The Polish Senate, which had issued the invitation as a partner of the Federal Council, initially did not want to comment on the cancellation of the visit. However, Polish media commented critically on the visit plans. The money.pl portal recalled that Schwerin had asked Poland to abandon its planned entry into nuclear energy.

The member of the national conservative PiS and Foreign Secretary of State in Warsaw until the elections, Arkadiusz Mularczyk, told the FAZ that he was satisfied with the cancellation. Schwesig “played a very bad role because of German-Russian relations.” There is a consensus in Poland that by promoting the German-Russian natural gas projects, a central source of income for Moscow, “it contributed to the development of Putin's Russia and, as a consequence, the later events,” he said, alluding to Russia's attack on Ukraine . “Poland had to send a clear signal: there is no way back to business as usual with Russia. Because this situation is a threat to all countries here, from Estonia to Romania.”

Germany's policy towards Russia was “murderous for East Central Europe”. After all, thanks to the Chancellor’s “turning point,” Germany has changed the vectors of its policy. If Schwesig also spoke in this sense, it “did not get through in Poland”.