Poland has ‘very good’ contacts with Germany: president

Merkel’s trip to Warsaw also shows that the German leader “pays a lot of attention” to bilateral contacts, Andrzej Duda added.

He noted that the Warsaw visit marked Merkel’s second foreign trip after Paris following her re-election as chancellor for a fourth term.

Prezydent: Ta wizyta pokazuje, że kontakty polsko-niemieckie są bardzo dobre.https://t.co/u9KTVSgE5m pic.twitter.com/2Jo9O1N0d2

— Kancelaria Prezydenta (@prezydentpl) March 19, 2018

While in Warsaw on Monday, Merkel also held talks with Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to discuss issues including the next European Union budget, migration, defence and energy.

Morawiecki said during the meeting that “close cooperation between our two countries is necessary to ensure very good cooperation in Europe, both in the context of the new post-Brexit agenda after March 2019 and for the development of a new financial framework as well as a common digital policy, security policy and industrial policy.”

Merkel, meanwhile, said that the German government wanted to "cultivate good neighbourly relations."

Germany's new Foreign Minister Heiko Maas, who was in Warsaw on Friday, called Poland and Germany “irreplaceable neighbours and friends” despite “divergent views on various issues.”

Differences causing tensions between Warsaw and Berlin in recent months have included the issue of possible reparations for Poland from Germany for World War II.

Another bone of contention is the planned Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany via the Baltic Sea. It would bypass Poland, Ukraine and other countries in the region.

Poland’s ruling conservatives were also vocal in criticising Merkel’s open-door policy to refugees during her previous term in office.

A new German government led by Merkel, who heads a coalition of her conservatives and the Social Democrats (SPD), was sworn in last week.

(gs/pk)

Source: PAP