Polish, German governments hold talks in Berlin
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
22.06.2016 17:44
Chancellor Angela Merkel praised relations between Germany and Poland following intergovernmental talks between Polish ministers and their counterparts in Berlin on Wednesday.
Polish PM Beata Szydło and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka
Merkel and Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło discussed a swathe of issues including joint business projects and Thursday’s referendum in which Britons will decide whether to stay in the EU.
“On behalf of both sides we can say that we would like [British] citizens - it is of course their decision - to decide to remain in the European Union,” said Merkel at a joint conference press conference with Szydło.
One sticking point in relations between Warsaw and Berlin is the planned German-Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which is to circumvent Poland and the Baltic states.
The project has caused anger in Poland, which fears the pipeline will undermine its energy security.
Szydło said: “There are obviously issues that are controversial, such as those related to energy security, the construction of the pipeline. But these issues require clarification. I believe deeply that there is a consensus to look for mutual areas of agreement.”
Nearly all members of the Polish government took part in talks with Merkel’s Cabinet on Wednesday.
Warsaw and Berlin have recently been 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 the Nazi Germans inflicted mass destruction on Poland during World War II. (pk)