In recent years, relations between Poland and Germany have oscillated between close cooperation and open grade. Although both countries have strong trade relations and are increasingly cooperating in the field of defense, Karol Nawrocki and PiS politicians criticize the EU for excessive interference in Polish affairs. They also fuel the still persistent injuries due to historical damage that Nazi Germany has made in Poland.
As Knut Abraham said, the coordinator for relations with Poland at the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs, relations between Berlin and Warsaw are very delicate. “One badly spoken sentence can lead to serious shocks,” he added.
In many respects Nawrocki embodies the kind of Polish populism, which is the most disturbing Merz and his allies. He was elected president in June thanks to the “Poland in the first place” program – he included, among others Calls to the German government to pay war reparations, which he rejected many times.
A common enemy in the person of Russian President Vladimir Putin also failed to unite German leaders and Polish populist right, even after last week Russian drones entered the Polish aircraft, which European leaders called the intentional plan of the NATO attack. Nawrocki tried to connect the demand for reparation with a common European struggle against Russian aggression.
Karol Nawrocki with Friedrich Merz in Germany, September 16, 2025.Cen/@lis_manyonok/east news/Europics/East News
– Reparations will not be an alternative to historical amnesia, but Poland, as a converted state, as the most important state of the Eastern Flanka NATO needs justice, truth and clear relations with Germany, but also needs reparation from the German state – he said at the beginning of this month during the ceremony commemorating World War II.
His spokesman Rafał Leśkiewicz added that Nawrocki “will certainly refer to this issue” during his visit to Berlin. The President of Poland met with Chancellor Mura, as well as the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Trump's man in Poland
Despite Nawrocki's tensions, it may prove to be useful for Merz and other European leaders in one sense – it has an impact on the US President Donald Trump.
Trump supported Nawrocki before this year's presidential election in Poland and accepted it with great praise in the White House at the beginning of this month. After invading Russian drones, the US president called him, not Tusk. Also at the beginning of this month, when he talked by phone with the leaders of the “Coalition of Volunteers” – countries that committed to ensure a guarantee of security of Ukraine – he contacted Nawrocki, not Tusk, as reported by the European official familiar with the course of the meeting.
Continued article under video material
It happened despite the fact that Nawrocki's position in Polish politics is rather representative. Although the President of Poland has the right to veto towards laws – and more than once uses them – Tusk and his ministers direct foreign policy and defense matters.
Trump's explicit pursuit of Tusk is a source of tension between the Polish government and the president. – There can be two foreign policies serving one country – said Paweł Wroński, spokesman for the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the beginning of this month.
Considering this dynamics, German and European leaders are unlikely to take any action that could be received as a weakening of Tusk's position.
Memory policy
After coming to power, Tusk's office resigned from the demands of the previous government to pay the Germans to Poland 1.3 trillion of euros (PLN 5.5 trillion) of war reparations – Nawrocki continues to support them, giving exactly the same amount.
Although Tusk's government believes that reparations have a moral justification, it maintains that they are legally impossible to realize and claims that the pursuit of their obtaining undermines Poland's relations with Germany, its largest export market.
The Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski suggested that the German government would give a “visible sign” that Germany recognized the damage suffered by Poland during the war, for example “by creating a documentation center, a dialogue center that recognizes the suffering of Poles and is also a memorial place.”
Karol Nawrocki in Germany, August 16, 2025Tobias Schwarz/AFP/East News/East News
In April, a temporary monument with a 30-ton boulder was erected in Berlin to commemorate Polish victims of Nazi Germany. There are plans to erect a permanent monument, but first the Bundestag must adopt the appropriate resolution.
Such gestures, however, will not satisfy the demands of PiS politicians regarding reparation, taking into account how many Polish voters support the position of the party. A study by SW Research for Onet showed that 54 percent respondents support reparations, and about 27 percent is against this idea.
Critics of Nawrocki, taking into account this fact, claim that he probably will not withdraw from this request, even though this may increase the tension between NATO allies and in a difficult time for Europe.
– Of course, you may want to use this issue to form a brand in national policy. This is understandable, it happens everywhere – said Rolf Nikel from the German Council of Foreign Relations and a former German ambassador to Poland. – But the point is that we are currently dealing with war on our external borders, and therefore we must do everything in our power to make Germany, Poland and other Europeans together – he said. “Everything that stands in the way works in favor of Putin,” he added.
I’m Ashley Davis as an editor, I’m committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity and accuracy in every piece we publish. My work is driven by curiosity, a passion for truth, and a belief that journalism plays a crucial role in shaping public discourse. I strive to tell stories that not only inform but also inspire action and conversation.
