President Andrzej Duda took part in the 19th Polish-German Forum „Europe 1918-2018: History with a future” hosted by the German Foreign Ministry. Together with his German counterpart he first said a few sentences and then answered questions. The whole event lasted for an hour.

It was the answers to the questions that caused the most controversy.

The first issue concerns the media. The President was asked by a German journalist, whose wife is Polish, why he did not hear for the whole Saturday in the Radio Trójka about the decision of the CJEU on the reform of the Supreme Court. Andrzej Duda answered that he had no influence on the media, and besides, „if women were raped in Poland, the media would inform about it immediately”, which was an obvious reference to real censorship in the German media, especially with regard to the behaviour of immigrants. It was an accurate retort, even necessary in the context of what was happening in the auditorium. Because you cannot allow the facts to be distorted. The truth is that it is Poland, not Germany that is a country of flourishing freedom and pluralism.

The second point concerned energy-saving light bulbs, with which the EU has replaced ordinary, much cheaper products. President Andrzej Duda referred to this case in order to point to the decisions of the European Union which irritate the average citizens of the community and which may lead to events such as Brexit. In my opinion, it is better not to enter into environmental disputes in the German context, because there are many other problems in mutual relations anyway; however, it was not a statement that could be seen as particularly outraging. Its meaning and context were clear: the point was to show that the decision of the British people was also arrogantly taken by the European steersmen.

There can be no grievance that every statement made by the President is subject to a detailed and often harsh assessment. However, in the context of the debate in Berlin, first and foremost, the behaviour of the German side should be assessed.

It must be made clear that the President of Poland was treated in a scandalous way.**

First of all, the auditorium - made up of media, students and other professional ‘reconcilers’ of our nations - was aggressively booing when Andrzej Duda spoke of Brexit. It was booing, although the President’s arrival at this event was a clear gesture of the Polish side, emphasizing the importance of relations with Germany. The auditorium was booing, although the President did not say anything scandalous, he did not offend or hurt anyone, and only clearly, still politely, expressed his opinion.

Secondly, the questions asked to both Presidents were extremely asymmetrical. The German President was asked about the business climate and other safe topics; the Polish President was attacked with aggressive questions about the media and the judiciary. And the co-chaired panel on the German side was not satisfied with Andrzej Duda’s answers and pressed on with additional questions itself.

As far as I know, the arrangements which had been taken previously were different, but they were unceremoniously broken by the German side. After all, it was only the president of Poland, additionally the representative of the political camp disliked by the German mainstream….

I wanted to ask my question, but the chairwoman on the German side did not give me the floor. It is a pity, perhaps the presidents, especially the German President, would explain how does it happen that the German media are able to present the arguments of the camps fighting for power in Kenya or Zambia relatively reliably, and at the same time they are not able to report honestly on the debates taking place in the neighboring country, serving rather rude and one-sided propaganda instead. Or why they will not inform their German audiences that the Polish media environment is much more pluralistic and dynamic than the German reality of the mainstream gag, and that even if the Polish Radio fails to inform about something, the commercial media will make up for it in spades.

It is also a pity that the whole matter was overshadowed by the most important event of Polish Wednesday in Berlin, i.e. a beautiful concert in the prestigious Konzerthaus, prepared by the Polish embassy (Ambassador Andrzej Przyłębski). The concert, which delighted the audience with beautifully performed works by Wieniawski, Paderewski, Tanzman and Kilar. Also the concert that was preceded by the declaration of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on the subject of remembrance. He stated that while celebrating the Polish century, Germans do not forget and will never forget that the Second Polish Republic collapsed as a result of German aggression.

These are fine words. But I think we should ask for more. First of all, for elementary respect for the President of the Republic of Poland, who has the right to say what he thinks, even if the herd instincts of the German public are not accustomed to open debate. And he has the right to expect that if he is invited, the hosts will not play with setting quite predictable traps; they will not, at all costs, strive to confirm their own stereotypes, but will simply want to listen to the opinion of the head of the Polish state. Just as they would have listened to the opinions of the Presidents of France or Italy.

The German aggression in 1939 did not only come from Hitler’s crazy head and his band. It grew out of the 19th century, when the Germans worked hard to convince themselves that the European east is wild and needs to be civilised, and they themselves have special responsibilities here. One can only regret that after the next eight decades, our western neighbors are looking at this common path again lustfully.

Tłum: KJ