As Western countries try to show a united front against Russian aggression, Poland has become something of an awkward ally.at odds with the European Union and human-rights organizations over what they see as the ruling party’s authoritarian style and long-standing attempts to undermine the country’s media, courts and democratic values.
World leaders have been flocking to Warsaw on an almost a daily basis and Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki have been included in strategy calls with Mr. Biden and other EU and G7 leaders. The attention hasn’t been lost on Poland’s leaders. During a trip to Brussels last week, Mr. Duda urged European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to resolve the EU’s many disputes with Poland for the sake of European solidarity. “Any arguments within the EU are a favour for the opponents of European unity,” Mr. Duda told reporters after the meeting. “We do not need this dispute. We are now in a difficult international situation.
Mr. Sawczuk said the current co-operation between Poland and its allies won’t likely change the PiS’s fundamental outlook, which remains intensely nationalistic. “The kind of perception that they have is that there is a cultural crisis in the West which the West is too weak to respond to,” he said. “I think that the current government also believes that it’s good that NATO exists and that the West is unified. They just wish that it was unified on a different foundation.
Mr. Sawczuk believes the EU could yet budge in the interest of European harmony. “The EU is generally trying to avoid conflict whenever possible,” he said. “You can just easily imagine that if the current government shows some goodwill, then the EU will be ready to say that, ‘Maybe this is not perfect but in the end it’s not so bad.’”
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