Yesterday, Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło and France’s President Emmanuel Macron met in Paris. After months of disagreements, the visit can be treated as a signal of a potential thaw in relations and of a bilateral willingness for a new opening.   French-Polish relations first soured in October 2016, when the Polish government backed out of a significant helicopter purchase from the French Airbus Group. The Polish Ministry of Defence insisted that the decision was because of a failure to agree on industrial issues rather than security or diplomatic considerations.  In reaction to Warsaw’s announcement, then-president Francois Hollande cancelled a planned trip to Poland. Since then, top French officials took a tough tone, arguing that their country should consider revising its relationship with Poland.Both leaders admitted that there were disagreements between the states, but took a conciliatory tone underlining the need to seek compromise. While Macron mentioned the importance of the rule of law during a press conference, referencing ongoing procedures against Poland in Brussels, he said that these matters are in the hands of the European Commission. This marks a shift in the French President’s rhetoric – he previously called for EU sanctions on Warsaw for not adhering to the bloc’s rights and values. He also used to argue that the Law and Justice government isolated Poland in the EU and stated that Poles “deserve better”.   In his election campaign, the French President also promised to fight the transfer of low-skilled jobs to Eastern European states, using Polish transportation services as a key example of what he calls “social dumping”. Yesterday, Szydło reached out to Macron declaring the willingness to cooperate in works on the mobility package, which will include decisions on how to apply posted workers rules in the road transport sector. Experts have suggested that the willingness from Macron to repair ties stems from the situation in Berlin. While coalition talks in Germany have collapsed, some

24th November 2017

Polish-French relations - possible new opening

French diplomats believe Macron should seize the moment and position himself as Europe’s leader. Mending relations with Poland could be interpreted in a two-fold way: firstly, as a signal to other EU leaders that Macron is willing to take the role of a conciliator, seeking an EU-wide compromise on a deep reform of  the bloc; secondly, as an admission that EU sanctions on Poland are unlikely and a prolonged open conflict with the Law and Justice government, without avenues of dialogue, will not achieve much.Macron is also a proponent of a two-speed EU concept. He would like to see the euro group reinforced and integration activities refocused to core member states of the Union, such as Germany and Spain. Poland is fervently opposing any such efforts, fearing that newer member states will be marginalised in Brussels. France is hoping that by focusing on similarities, such as the position on Brexit or defence cooperation, Poland can be ‘softened’ and reasoned with when the time comes to reform the bloc. For the government in Warsaw, the visit was very important to show that the country has not been ostracised in Europe. Macron accepted Szydło’s invitation to attend next year’s celebrations of Poland’s 100th independence anniversary. In the coming weeks and months open hostilities in the media are likely to be dialled down, as relations increase on the working level between French and Polish Foreign Ministries.