In the wake of a somewhat disastrous G7 summit, Poland has a unique opportunity to become a great integrator that will cement the decaying transatlantic bond between the US and EU, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki believes.
Following US President Trumps decision not to endorse the G7 joint communiqué and to slap tariffs on European and Canadian steel and aluminum, Trumps European counterparts felt overwhelmed by what German Chancellor Angela Merkel defined as a sense of “disillusionment.”
“Everybody probably notices that the paths of the European Union and the United States have begun to diverge quite a lot,” Morawiecki told the Gazeta Polska weekly, reflecting on the transatlantic tensions at the latest G7 summit in Québec.
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Poland, which has for long been eager to score points with Washington, has proposed itself as “an integrator between these two entities.” According to Morawiecki, there could be no better time for his country to “create the position of a keystone.” Otherwise, he said, Warsaw will find itself “in the uncomfortable situation of constant manoeuvring” between Brussels and Washington.
“It presents a great opportunity for our country,” Morawiecki said, “this is the scenario we are working on.”
In making overtures to Washington, Poland has been actively promoting its anti-Russian stance. Last month, the Polish defense ministry invited the US military to put a permanent military base on its territory and offered to pay $2billion for the privilege. In a 39-page document dispatched to Washington, Warsaw emphasized the “extraordinarily strong” bond between Poland and the US.
Warsaws invitation of NATO troops on its territory did not go down well in Moscow, which made it clear that there would be serious consequences in response to any NATO build-up in Eastern Europe.
Morawieckis new endeavor to bring the transatlantic alliance back together will be a challenging one. While six members of the G7 group recognised the need to resolve pending issues in unison, Trumps commitment to his “America first” agenda went squarely against that spirit.
Trumps goal is to make trade deals with single partners who can all be blackmailed into submission (Op-Ed by Slavoj Žižek) https://t.co/UJxls1tNaT
— RT (@RT_com) June 13, 2018
Expressing a common sentiment after the latest summit, Angela Merkel pledged that Europe would not let itself be “deceived” or let Trump do “whatever he pleases,” whether its withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord and the Iran nuclear deal, or imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
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