Poland's Duda thanks Germany for Patriots on Berlin visit
December 12, 2022
Polish President Andrzej Duda on Monday thanked his counterpart, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, for Berlin's decision to install US-made Patriot anti-aircraft missile batteries in Poland to help defend against possible Russian aggression.
"Thank you for the fact that these rockets will protect the Polish skies and Polish earth," said Duda, who called Berlin's decision "a very important gesture" both as a neighbor and a partner.
Duda said it was important that the Patriots become part of Poland's overall air-defense posture.
Germany's decision was prompted by a missile that struck Poland near its Ukrainian border in mid-November, killing two people.
Steinmeier thanked Duda for Poland's "very prudent stance" regarding the incident — there is largely agreement that the projectile was likely an errant Ukrainian air-defense missile and not one fired by Russia.
After the November strike, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht and her Polish counterpart Mariusz Blaszczak agreed that German Patriot missiles would be stationed in Poland.
Still, Blaszczak caused a stir shortly thereafter by suggesting Poland might pass them along to Ukraine, arguing they could be of greater use there, even though no NATO members have yet sent any Patriot missiles to Ukraine.
The German President on Monday said he was "very pleased that there has been basic agreement over the stationing."
A team of German military experts are expected to travel to Poland on Tuesday to inspect a number of possible sites where the Patriots can be installed.
Duda says winter will bring more Ukrainian refugees
Duda also advised Germany to prepare for a new wave of Ukrainian immigrants as winter arrives, saying his country has seen a spike in arrivals as Russia continues to pound civilian infrastructure, knocking out heat and electricity.
"People are fleeing frost, death and Russian bombs," he said. Steinmeier added that "in these cold winter months it is important that Germany and Poland stand with the Ukrainian people."
Speaking of Russia's strategy of attacking civilian infrastructure, Steinmeier said it "cannot and will not" pay off.
After speaking with Duda, Steinmeier described the two countries as "very close partners, friends and neighbors."
Asked by a reporter whether eastern European countries could count on Germany, Steinmeier said that the strengthening of NATO's eastern flank was a key element of German foreign policy, saying that it is also in Germany's interest to fortify European defenses.
In this context, Steinmeier also noted that Germany had committed to stationing Patriot missiles in Slovakia, as well as deploying German soldiers to Lithuania to participate in the so-called air policing of Baltic states.
Poland confident the issue of World War II reparations can be resolved
A recurring point of contention between Warsaw and Berlin is Poland's insistence that Germany pay reparations for damage caused by the Nazis during World War II.
Poland's right-wing nationalist Law and Justice party (PiS) is calling for Germany to pay out roughly €1.3 trillion ($1.37 trillion) in reparations. That's more than a third of Germany's modern-day GDP.
Duda — whose government rejects a 1953 declaration by Poland's then ruling Communist government that the country would cease to make further reparations claims — says he thinks a solution that is "positive" for Germany, Poland and the EU can be found.
The current PiS government and the party's head, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, have ratcheted up criticism of Germany since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, often portraying Germany as not doing enough to help. Some Polish political observers argue that this process has ramped up further in recent months, because of falling PiS popularity ahead of next year's national elections.
Opposition politicians in Warsaw say it is an attempt to convince Poles that a vote against PiS is a vote against Polish interests.
js/msh (AFP, dpa, Reuters)