Donald Trump has asked for a European country to be represented by another leader, on the eve of the discussion of Ukraine
Donald Trump, at the NATO summit in The Hague. Photo: Rut / Splashnews.com / Splash / Profimedia
US President Donald Trump asked Polish counterpart, his Aliant Karol Nawrocki, to join the teleconference with European leaders on Ukraine, on Wednesday, according to the disclosure made by Warsaw Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Nawrocki's political rival, which was believed to be attended.
Nawrocki, a conservative and Eurosceptic nationalist, is Donald Trump's political movement and paid a visit to the White House during the campaign for this year's Polish presidential elections. At the June poll, he defeated Tusk's pro -European candidate, Vafal Trzaskowski, the mayor of Warsaw.
“Yesterday before midnight, we received information, along with our European friends, that the American side would prefer Poland to be represented by President with President Trump,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in a press conference.
The White House did not comment on the subject.
Poland's government had announced that Tusk would attend the discussion
On Tuesday, a spokesman for the Polish government had announced that Donald Tusk, former president of the European Council, will participate in the discussion with Donald Trump.
However, Marcin Przydacz, President Nawrocki councilor on foreign policy issues, told reporters that he “has no information that Prime Minister Donald Tusk would have previously planned.” He claims that the prime minister's team has shown that he has no good contacts with the Trump administration, because he had the impression that Tusk would participate.
Government spokesman Adam Szlapka said that Tusk represented Poland in two telephone calls with European leaders, but not with Trump.
Przydacz said that the president and prime minister's offices will exchange information about meetings.
European leaders and Ukrainian president Volodimir Zelenski spoke to Donald Trump on Wednesday, in the context of the summit that the US president with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Friday, in Alaska.
“Prisoners of internal politics”
Krzysztof Izdebski, politician director at Batory Foundation, explained that there is a risk of contradictory messages when a country, in this case Poland, is represented by two political opponents.
“This shows that, even in foreign policy, in such an essential security issue, we are simply hostages of internal policy and a certain competition between various state bodies,” said the expert.
The expert believes that such a situation can undermine Poland's effort to present itself as a modern country that collaborates with top nations in international policy issues.
President Nawrocki and the PIS formation are firm supporters of Ukraine in the war with Russia, such as Tusk, and his government, but have different positions in matters such as abortion, family values and rule of law.
Tusk said he complies with US request to maintain presidential contacts, but this should not be used to put on “Poles against each other”
