POLAND-ELECTIONS/DUDA FOREIGN POLICY Polish president maintains pro-EU stance despite anti-German rhetoric of his former party, tipped to win elections

Record ID: 137152

  • Title: POLAND-ELECTIONS/DUDA FOREIGN POLICY Polish president maintains pro-EU stance despite anti-German rhetoric of his former party, tipped to win elections
  • Date: 1st October 2015
  • Summary: WARSAW, POLAND (AUGUST 6, 2015) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** VARIOUS OF PRESIDENT ANDRZEJ DUDA'S SWEARING-IN CEREMONY IN PARLIAMENT DUDA APPROACHING PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (Polish) POLISH PRESIDENT, ANDRZEJ DUDA, SAYING: "It should be said clearly: we need more guarantees from NATO. Not only we as Poland, the whole of Central-Eastern Europe in the current
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  • Story Text: As Poland's parliamentary elections edge closer, President Andrzej Duda has distanced himself from the anti-German rhetoric of his former allies in the largest opposition party Law and Justice (PiS), tipped to win on October 25.
    Poland's former president, Bronislaw Komorowski, and its centre-right ruling party Civic Platform (PO) fostered close ties with Germany, Europe's largest economy, in recent years, but Duda hails from the more conservative, nationalist-minded Law and Justice party (PiS).
    Duda unexpectedly defeated Komorowski in a May election and took office on August 6. PiS, more sceptical than PO about European integration, then hopes to cap his triumph by ousting PO in a parliamentary poll due later this year.
    Duda announced a new direction in Polish foreign policy immediately after his swearing before Polish parliament.
    He stressed this policy needs "an adjustment but no revolution", setting his main goal as the strengthening of Poland's and the region's safety guarantees and increasing the presence of NATO forces on its eastern flank.
    "It should be said clearly: we need more guarantees from NATO. Not only we as Poland, the whole of Central-Eastern Europe in the current geopolitical situation -- a difficult situation, as you know. We need a greater NATO presence in this part of Europe, also in our country," he said during a speech in the Polish parliament.
    Germany says establishing NATO military bases in former communist countries in eastern Europe would violate a 1997 NATO agreement with Russia. But Poland has long sought a NATO presence on its soil, especially since the onset of the Ukraine crisis revived historic Polish fears of an expansionist Russia.
    Creating a common front in NATO and European Union with the Baltic countries was the reason of Duda's first foreign visit to Tallinn, where he pointedly met with Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves in the Occupation Museum on the 76th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
    Duda stressed to journalists present that before the enlargement of NATO in 1999 the Alliance also had an eastern flank equipped with military bases and critical infrastructure. He argued that as new members became the eastern flank, moving the bases and infrastructure is necessary.
    "The first of President's Duda's foreign visits was to show that Poland stands in line with the more vulnerable eastern flank countries, the Baltic countries, and will insist that NATO and European Union - which is also changing its security policy - to find solutions which will increase security of this region of Europe" analyst at "Polityka Insight" think tank, Marek Swierczynski, said.
    But to achieve his aims, good relations and cooperation with Germany are needed, driving a wedge between his stance on the world stage and the views of prominent PiS figures.
    The election hopefuls, headed up leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, may prove a sticking point for Duda's foreign policy plans in the country.
    Kaczynski's earlier tenure as prime minister in 2006-7 was characterised by tense relations with Germany, with his government attempting to use Germany's historical guilt over World War II to improve Poland's position in the EU. It has subsequently strongly shaped the image of Poland on the international stage.
    "President Duda during his visit to Berlin - which I was directly observed - tried to do everything to erase the bad impression which might remain, to have a good opening with President Gauck and Germany's Chancellor [Angela Merkel]. The election campaign in Poland is not helping this. Anti-German phobias are still in use, especially on the right wing of the political scene," Swierczynski said.
    But Kaczynski's public reactions to the migrant crisis have done little to help former party mate Duda heal rifts with Germany.
    "Who created the magnet, the great magnet, the powerful social magnet attracting economic migrants? Germany. And that is their problem. Here [Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orban was right. It is their problem, not ours," the PiS leader said in a recent parliamentary debate on immigration.
    Despite the problems it poses for Duda's attempts to better work with Germany, PiS is hoping its anti-immigration rhetoric will strike a chord with the mood of the wider Polish population, where the bubbling anti-migrant mood has led to large-scale demonstrations.
    For Swierczynski, despite the former allies appearing at loggerheads, Kaczynski's anti-German railings are more to provide a poll boost than a foreign policy outlook.
    "When it comes to the practice of policy, especially in the field of security and European policy, there is no other choice than good relations with Germany for a strong and even stronger for Poland's future position in the region and in the European Union," he said.
    It remains to be seen whether a PiS win on October 25 would help or hinder Duda in his espoused intention to build a strong Eastern bloc the EU and NATO -- which in the near future also requires convincing his partners from the V4 group on greater security cooperation.
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