German FM aiming to prevent breakdown in relations with Poland

“I'm going there with the expectation that no one - neither we nor the Polish side - is interested in questioning the progress that has been made over the past 25 years,” Steinmeier told journalists in Berlin, referring to the watershed that occurred with the collapse of the Iron Curtain.

His Polish counterpart, Witold Waszczykowski, summoned the German ambassador last week after a series of criticisms of the Polish government by German politicians, amid claims that Polish democracy is under threat.

Steinmeier's comments on Tuesday were made as the rule of law in Poland was being discussed at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

The German foreign minister said that the European Commission “has the right to ask questions,” in reference to an inquiry launched last week in the wake of new Polish legislation concerning public media and the judiciary.

In a month that has seen Polish politicians and magazines refer scathingly to Germany's Nazi-era past, Steinmeier called for a new approach.

“I do not want to return to the times that I have already lived through, when history and the past were used as tools to carry out current politics,” he said.

“I would like to avoid this.” (nh/pk)

Source: PAP