A Fresh Impetus for German Polish Relations

Proposals for an Intensification of Bilateral Cooperation

SWP Comment 2009/C 14, 15.08.2009, 4 Seiten

Forschungsgebiete

German-Polish relations have become considerably more relaxed since the government of Donald Tusk took office in November 2007. A number of controversial bilateral issues have either been resolved (the Centre against Expulsions), judged by the European Court of Human Rights (which ruled that compensation claims brought against Poles by expellees under the auspices of the so-called Preußische Treuhand [Prussian Claims Society] were inadmissible) or are at least continuing to be negotiated in more rational terms (the Nordstream gas pipeline through the Baltic Sea). The at times aggressive anti-German rhetoric of the Kaczynski government has been replaced by a business-like approach, and the two governments have intensified their dialogue, both bilaterally and in the EU. All this paves the way for bilateral relations to focus more strongly on the issues of the future and make them more crisis-proof. The next German government should therefore set itself ambitious goals with respect to Poland and initiate new forms of contact and projects that will serve to strengthen cooperation.