euro|topics - Donald Tusk visits Germany

05/07/2009

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Main focus of Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Donald Tusk visits Germany

The new Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk's first official visit to Germany has been eagerly awaited given that relations between the two countries cooled under his predecessor Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Tusk presented an alternative proposal to the controversial plans for a documentation centre on expellees in Berlin: a European museum dedicated to the Second World War in Gdansk.

Hospodářské noviny - Czech Republic

"Friends don't have to agree on everything but they should be able to at least talk about anything," Martin Ehl writes commenting on Donald Tusk's first official meeting with Angela Merkel as Polish Prime Minister. "After yesterday's meeting it's clear that Tusk and his ministers smile more and have a more restrained approach but they will represent Polish interests just as doggedly as the previous government under Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Tusk was well prepared for his visit to Berlin. In a lengthy interview and an article he wrote for Germany's most widely read tabloid, he made it clear why the foundation of a centre for expellees in Berlin under the control of the Federation of Expellees and the joint German-Russian construction of a gas pipeline bypassing Poland are unacceptable for Poland." (12/12/2007)

Berliner Zeitung - Germany

Frank Herold thinks that the Polish Prime Minister's visit was constructive on the Polish side: "The Polish Prime Minister's idea of building a museum dedicated to the history of the Second World War in Gdansk merited much more than the cool reception it received from Chancellor Merkel. ... A museum located in the city where the war began 70 years ago could serve to create a connection between all the different aspects and tell the story of the events from a European perspective, without accusations or locally-prejudiced myths. Organising international cooperation for the project would undoubtedly be a rewarding and confidence-building German-Polish effort, and wouldn't have the effect of making memories of individual historical processes redundant. Therefore it's a good thing that Tusk has abandoned his original idea of using the museum as an alternative to the documentation centre on expellees planned by the German government for Berlin. Competing memorial projects would be the wrong approach." (12/12/2007)

Dziennik - Poland

German chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed Donald Tusk's proposal to build a museum but wants to stick to the plans for the expellee project. Andrzej Talaga is disappointed by such an outcome. "One can hardly describe this visit as a success. In point of fact Tusk was butting his head against a brick wall. You can't blame him for not coming out as the winner of this clash. His visit has shown that it wasn't the anti-German prejudices of the previous government that caused the tensions in German-Polish relations but Berlin's tough stance. It refuses to budge on issues like the expellees and the gas pipeline. It has to be said that it's a strange friendship when the stronger and wealthier partner ignores the fears of its weaker partner." (12/12/2007)

» To the complete press review of Wednesday, December 12, 2007

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