Polish FM: Image of Poland in German media is not objective
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
17.06.2016 08:25
Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski has said important issues in bilateral relations with Berlin include a return to a debate on restoring the status of ethnic minority to Poles living in Germany and a need to improve Poland’s image among Germans.
Witold Waszczykowski. Photo: EPA/ABIR SULTAN Dostawca: PAP/EPA.
“Today, the image of Poland in the German media is not objective, with some of those media creating a false picture of Poland as an anti-European state”, Waszczykowski told broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
On Polish-German relations, he said: “One must not turn a blind eye to certain differences in viewpoints.”
In this context, he singled out the issue of security in military, energy and economic terms.
In Waszczykowski’s view, there is an urgent need for cooperation on security issues, considering Poland’s location on NATO’s eastern flank.
“Germany should therefore understand our problems and be aware of Poland’s sensitivity on this point,” Waszczykowski said, adding that Warsaw would like to see a NATO military presence on its territory, whereas “Germany treats such a presence as confrontational vis a vis Russia”.
Warsaw and Berlin are marking the 25th anniversary of the Polish-German Treaty of Good Neighbourship and Friendly Cooperation.
Signed in 1991, the treaty set Poland and Germany on a path of reconciliation, several decades after Nazi Germans inflicted mass destruction on Poland during World War II. (mk/pk)