Disagreements over the EU's Ostpolitik

IN RECENT years Germany has become Poland's closest political ally and economic partner. The heads of state, heads of government and foreign ministers of the two countries are on excellent terms and see each other frequently. But in the last few months this new closeness has been put to a test as Berlin's conciliatory policy towards Russia over the escalating crisis in Ukraine is provoking increasingly loud grumbles in Warsaw.

Polish officials are concerned that Germany is too keen to end the conflict in Ukraine on Russia's terms, and is reluctant to impose tougher economic sanctions on Russia and to shift NATO forces to the east. The latest salvo comes from Roman Kuzniar, foreign-policy adviser to Bronislaw Komorowski, Poland's president. In a toughly worded column in Rzeczpospolita, a daily, Mr Kuzniar denounces western European governments for refusing to stand up to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, accusing them of appeasement. “Putin is paralysing their freedom of action in the same way that a snake in the desert paralyses a rabbit,” he writes, before taking special care to castigate Germany. “We have to accept that, because of Berlin's specific relationship with Russia, we cannot count on Germany in matters of regional security,” he writes, adding that Germany is treating Russia “like a special needs child who has to be raised without...Continue reading