2023-06-12 22:09:07
pressure to Germany y France so that they show a less doubtful position on the Ukraine’s accession to NATO. The Polish President, Andrzej Dudaasked his French counterpart this Monday in Paris, Emmanuel Macronand the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, that they work in favor of “developing a very concrete perspective” on the incorporation of kyiv into the Atlantic Alliance. The Ukrainian government “expects a strong message about its (possible) membership in NATO and this will be one of our main objectives” at this meeting, Duda assured at the joint press conference with Macron and Scholz, before having dinner and meeting in the Élysée Palace.
The three leaders have met in this small summit in the format ‘Weimar triangle‘ to prepare the European Council at the end of the month and the next NATO summit at the beginning of July. One of the star themes of this second meeting in Vilnius will be the gestures of the member countries to reinforce the hypothesis of Ukraine joining the Atlantic Alliance, rejected head-on by Moscow, but yearned for by Kiev as a security guarantee in the medium and long term, once the war is over. While Macron defended a few days ago that Ukrainians should be offered a “path to membership“, Scholz was more hesitant, as he maintained that they should not focus on accession, but on how “each country can support Ukraine.”
the counteroffensive
In addition to joining NATO, other possible security guarantees and the arms delivery y humanitarian aid are present on the dinner-meeting menu at the Élysée. “The Ukrainian counteroffensive has begun for several days”, Macron confirmed. “It is intended to last several weeks or even several months. (…) We want it to be as successful as possible so that we can then start a negotiation phase in good conditions”, he added during the press conference.
A few days after his troops have intensified the pressure on the Russian defensive lines, Ukrainian leaders have already called for the shipment of more weapons, including more tanks. “We will support (Ukraine) as long as it takes. We are united on this issue,” Scholz said, without mentioning the possible shipment of more tanks. Leopard 2.
Poland, geopolitically strengthened by the war
The ‘Weimar Triangle’ meetings – between Poland, Germany and France – arose in 1991 with the aim of reconciling German-Polish relations. This diplomatic format fell out of use for years, but was revived after the Russian invasion of Ukraine early last year. This reflects the geopolitical rise of Poland, one of the countries that came out stronger at a geopolitical level from the war in Eastern Europe and that presents itself as the outstanding student of NATO (and the United States). It is not just the state (together with Russia) that hosts the largest number of refugees Ukrainians, but rather plays a key role in shipping Western weapons and even repairing Ukrainian war tanks.
Warsaw has not hesitated to take advantage of this renewed prestige. To the point that in recent months he has scolded Paris and Berlin on more than one occasion for their position regarding Moscow, considered too soft by the countries of Eastern Europe. Despite this increased influence from Poland, the recurring friction between Brussels and Warsaw.
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The European Commission launched last week an infringement procedure against the Polish neoconservative government for the creation of a controversial commission of inquiry into “Russian influence”, which is feared an interested use to weaken the opposition a few months before the next general elections, scheduled for autumn. The Polish Executive responded this Monday with the announcement of a legal recourse against the EU regulation that wants to ban the sale of combustion engine vehicles from 2035.
“20 years ago, some people spoke of an old Europe and a new Europe (the one from the East). This format of Weimar is that of a united Europe“, Macron has defended. Although the two main EU powers (France and Germany) consider it necessary to lend a hand towards Poland -because of its current geopolitical weight-, the Polish neoconservative leaders continue to be a nuisance in multiple aspects for Paris and Berlin.
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