Steinbach's withdrawal is a success for Polish diplomacy

The German Association of Expellees has decided not to appoint its president Erika Steinbach to the board of the Centre against Expulsion "Visible Sign" in Berlin. The liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza welcomes the decision: "Excluding Erika Steinbach from the board of 'Visible Sign' is a great victory for Polish democracy and a sign of how much German Chancellor Angela Merkel values good relations with Poland. For some Germans it was only natural that Steinbach participate in the 'Visible Sign' project. They brushed off the pressure that Professor Władysław Bartoszewski [Polish spezial representative to Germany] exerted in this affair as a manifestation of Polish hysteria. Steinbach was depicted as someone who sought reconciliation even though she voted against the German-Polish border and neighbourly agreements 20 years ago. In recent days they not only backed those politicians belonging to the conservative wing of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who have close ties to the expellees but even the German Catholic bishops."

» full article (external link, Polish)
More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » History, » Poland
All available articles from » Bartosz Wieliński

» To the complete press review of Thursday, March 5, 2009