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  The Unloved Neighbors: A History of Hostility between Poland and Germany

The Unloved Neighbors A History of Hostility between Poland and Germany

By SPIEGEL Staff

Part 4: Adding Insult to Injury

In 2002, for example, at the summit that paved the way for Poland's accession to the European Union, former chancellor Gerhard Schröder reached deep into his pockets in order to raise the level of subsidies for the new members from mostly ex-communist Eastern Europe. He put €1 billion on the table, according to a diplomat. A few days later, Poland confirmed that it wasn’t quite so needy after all: Warsaw placed an order for US fighter jets totaling €3.5 billion. Adding insult to injury, the Poles rejected a competing bid for the European designed and produced Eurofighter.

By now it must be apparent in Berlin that Warsaw’s anti-German position is no longer fed by justified historical resentments alone.

The Polish unilateral action on the US missile defense program has also increased doubts about Warsaw’s dependability, according to sources in Berlin. The Polish government decided to negotiate with Washington over deploying US intercept missiles without even informing its EU partners.

An Non-Dependable Partner?

Even those German politicians who doggedly try to find common ground with the Poles are unsure of what to do. The German government’s coordinator for Polish relations, Gesine Schwan, appears to have been overtaken by a mood of resignation. “It’s hard to say at the moment to what extent the current Polish government is a capable of being a dependable partner with Germany,” she complains.

It’s not only the unyielding demeanor of the Kaczynskis that is damaging Poland’s image abroad. Their controversial coalition partners -- the unpredictable leftist populist Andrzej Lepper and the far-right nationalist League of Polish Families -- regularly create bad press with often offensive rhetoric.

Maciej Giertych, an MP for the League, fêted the late Spanish dictator Francisco Franco in the European Parliament for supposedly saving Europe from communism. His son Roman, who is the party’s chairman, supports a severe ban on abortion -- even in cases of rape. He rages against homosexual teachers, whom he claims are perverting Polish children with their "propaganda."

The most recent attempt undertaken by the Education Minister in the Kaczynski cabinet consisted in a call to ban texts by Goethe, Kafka and Witold Gombrowicz from schools -- a proposal that provoked an outcry even among the Poles. But as far as foreign policy is concerned, the Poles are closing ranks behind their often ridiculed twin leaders. Even though polls reveal the government of Jaroslaw Kaczynski would not even receive 30 percent of the vote if elections were to be held today, many Poles appreciate the tough course opted for by Warsaw before the EU summit this week: Forty-nine percent of those questioned favor a Polish veto if the issue of voting weight isn't reopened for negotiations at the summit, and 43 percent of the persons questioned side with the twins in the dispute over the square root model.

The Unattractive Threat of Isolation

But would they also be prepared to accept the isolation of their country that a veto would entail? That seems unlikely. By comparison to other countries on the continent, the Poles are clearly to be counted among the enthusiasts of a united Europe. Ever since Poland joined the EU, public approval for the political union has increased: 86 percent of those surveyed are in favor of their country's EU membership. Hundreds of thousands of young Poles have gone to the United Kingdom or Ireland in search of new career opportunities there.

Only seven out of every 100 persons polled speak out as staunch opponents of the EU. And so sociologist Antoni Kaminski admonishes the country's leaders to take "responsibility for Europe."

"Poland is part of the West," he says. "And formal membership in Western organizations is just the beginning of the real integration process."

So far, though, Warsaw has failed to propose a feasible compromise in the dispute over the European constitution. Even when Polish President Lech Kaczynski now speaks of a willingness to reach an agreement on the issue, one important question remains unanswered: What concession does Warsaw expect from the EU in return for finally agreeing to the constitution compromise after all?

Presidential advisor and neogtiator Marek Cichocki also spoke of a possible compromise late last week -- with the difference being that he added the adjective "reasonable." If the summit in Brussels will result in a mandate for negotiations, then "our proposal for the voting procedure needs to be considered therein," he said. Otherwise EU members will leave the summit without a mandate, and the negotiating game will have to begin anew at some point in the future, according to Cichocki.

Is that what the search for a genuine trade-off sounds like?

Incidentally, the two political mathematicians who proposed the square root model that everyone is talking about now, call their proposal the "Jagiellon compromise." The Jagiellon dynasty held power for almost 200 years during the Middle Ages -- and under the rule of these monarchs, Poland was one of the most powerful countries in Europe.

Reported by the staff of DER SPIEGEL.

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