Marta Prochwicz-Jazowska

“ Resetting relations with the EU will therefore, without a doubt, be one of the priorities of the ruling coalition. The appointment of Donald Tusk as Prime Minister of Poland being the most likely scenario would open the way for negotiations between Warsaw and Brussels, because Tusk has solid relations with European institutions. ”

“ When it comes to abortion, the laws on the subject have not formally changed. The toughening of the approach is due to judicial interpretations of current laws and doctors' fears of being sued. Therefore, under a new government, changes will be easy to achieve. ”

“ The referendum is about the measures that were or will not be applied, and the result will not change anything. ”

“ PiS voters have accepted the theory that no other party will protect Poland from Russia as well. But at the same time, the strategy harmed Polish-Ukrainian relations and the country's international reputation. ”

“ Before there were two problems. Warsaw hoped that kyiv would support its entry into the highest Western decision-making circles, which has not happened. Then, there are the conflicts related to the legacy of the Second World War. ”

“ Polling shows that the grievances towards Germany were not there until Law and Justice came to power in 2015. ”

“ It is not in the Polish national interest to stop arms deliveries to Ukraine. The prime minister's remarks mainly indicate that he is keen to focus on replenishing the country's domestic supply of weapons because Poland no longer has the resources and is in need of a major weapons replenishment process which is going to take a long time ... [But] this is not a political declaration about stopping arms to Ukraine.

There is also a national election coming up. So, there is no doubt that the prime minister, being on television, was campaigning for his own voter base. The campaign is extremely dirty and politicians, including the ruling PiS party, are using Polish farmers to win votes and openly saying that the number one interest is Polish farmers. But I do think that will go away even for the ruling party after the election campaign.

Poland is a very important transit hub for Ukraine and I do hope the recent remarks, even over weapons, were just emotional. A huge number of weapons [destined for] Ukraine also go through Poland. Meanwhile, for Poland, Ukraine is also important economically, so [they] are very interdependent. ”

“ Still, Marta Prochwicz–Jazowska of the German Marshal Fund, argues that stoking up the issue might not have quite the impact PiS expects. Despite the fact that “a major part of the Polish population believes Germany owes Poland,” and polling last year showing 52 percent of Poles support reparations, she isn’t so sure it will have a significant impact on the election. The topic “will not determine voter preferences in the same way as security and defense, the war in Ukraine, the economy and social policies,” she said. ”