"The directions of Polish foreign policy are set by Law and Justice (PiS) chairman Jarosław Kaczyński. There is no other meaningful actor in this area,” said Kazimierz Michał Ujazdowski, former PiS member and MEP appearing on “Fakty po Faktach”. “This causes a state of permanent uncertainty among his party colleagues, especially pending the reconstruction of the Government,” added Aleksander Smolar, President of the Batory Foundation.
The commentators invited to appear on “Fakty po Faktach” discussed Polish foreign policy. Last week, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski declared that Poland would be launching “procedures to prevent people who adopt an extremely anti-Polish stance from entering the country.” The Minister also announced that he would consider whether he should “recommend that Polish President visit Ukraine.”
Last week also saw a dispute erupt around the comments made by the German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, who appeared on a ZDF [i.e. second channel of German public TV – editor’s comment] talk show on Thursday, 2 November, talking about supporting “healthy democratic resistance” of the young generation in Poland. The Minister also said she would like to “stand up for Eastern European countries”. Ms. von der Leyen’s media appearance was a topic of Monday’s meeting between the Head of the Military Foreign Affairs Department of the Ministry of Defense, Colonel Tomasz Kowalik and the German Defense Attaché Colonel Andreas Meister.
When asked who was in control of the Polish foreign policy, Kazimierz Michał Ujazdowski said that the “methods and directions of foreign policy were set by Mr. Kaczyński”.
“There is no other meaningful actor in this area. I am not able to tell you to what extent [Jarosław Kaczyński – editor’s comment] has inspired the things said and done in recent days,” he said.
According to Mr. Ujazdowski “they are consistent with a general political direction and method whose effects are negative”.
“It consists in managing emotions and in turning up the heat on purpose. Even when faced with matters which require an assertive, rational and balanced reaction, that heat is turned up,” the MEP continued.
Aleksander Smolar, President of the Batory Foundation, agreed with Mr. Ujazdowski, saying that “Mr. Kaczynski sets the main directions.” He added that this caused a state of permanent uncertainty among his party colleagues, especially pending the Government reconstruction.
“An attempt to fulfil wishes which have not even been expressed”
Aleksander Smolar also commented on the fact that the German Defense Attaché in Poland was summoned for a meeting. “All of a sudden, Minister Macierewicz summoned a German from the German Embassy. What did Minister Waszczykowski do? He did that immediately the next day. What you can see here are attempts to fulfil wishes which have not even been expressed yet. Mr. Kaczyński does not need to say a word. They will still be doing the things they feel are the priority,” commended the President of the Batory Foundation.
Professor Paweł Śpiewak said, in turn, that currently the only neighboring country that Poland had a positive relationship with was Belarus. “It is a complete paradox,” he added.
According to Professor Śpiewak, “in each case there is an unsettling background.” “Every time, some sort of nationalism, or a somewhat xenophobic attitude, returns. Suddenly, historical rifts between nations grow into something unsurmountable, something we cannot even talk about,” he said.
“PiS is propelled ahead by the vision of Poland getting off its knees”
Śpiewak mentioned that he could see “more nationalist elements than rational politics” in German-Polish relations. “This means that this is the source of PiS’s strength. I think that what propels the party ahead is the vision of Poland getting off its knees,” the Professor said.
“In the modern world, getting off your knees is not enough, you also need to move, be mobile, strike up alliances. This is the main loss resulting from the strategy they have chosen,” replied Kazimierz Michał Ujazdowski.
He mentioned that “Poland fails to make positive decisions to benefit itself; it does not have allies in areas where it could have them. It is absolutely lost profit,” the MEP said.
Mr. Ujazdowski did not agree with Paweł Śpiewak. “Nationalism is such a broad notion that, I think, it is not the right term to describe this politics. It looks more like an immature version of patriotism, based on something strong,” he claimed.
“More effective criticism is based on the criterion of national interest, which is not pursued today, rather than on references to a very general allegation of nationalism, which I think is inadequate to the situation,” the MEP said.
Źródło: tvn24.pl/tłumaczenie Intertext.com.pl
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: tvn24