At the end of January, German Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck (representing the Green Party in the government) spoke highly critically at the Economic Forum in Davos about Germany’s policy towards Russia during Angela Merkel’s long reign.
The Vice Chancellor criticizes the former Chancellor
Habeck drew attention to the last years of her rule, when it became increasingly clear that Russia was treating its energy resources as a political weapon, and yet the German government made political and economic decisions that favored it. He recalled that “decisions on the construction of Nord Stream 2, on the sale of gas storage facilities, including the largest, to Gazprom and the sale of shares in as many as 4 refineries to Rosneft were taken in 2015, i.e. after the Russians occupied the Ukrainian oblasts: Donbas and Lugansk, and also Crimea, which was an astonishing decision. As it turned out, the German equivalent of the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection voted on it by decision of February 24, 2022, exactly on the day of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine , that the Russian concern Rosneft additional shares in the refinery in Schwedt from Shell and thus method was as high as 92 percent of his shares (up to that point he owned 37.5 percent of the shares).
Vice Chancellor Habeck even stated in his speech in Davos: “It was Europe that paid the price for Germany’s dependence on Russian gas” and therefore even stated that “Germany is therefore obliged to contribute to the economic growth of Europe and other countries to help.” It seemed that the statement of this kind of deputy head of the German government at an international conference attended by politicians and business people from all over the world meant that Germany would not only admit this serious mistake, but would even want to participate in the recover from its consequences. Unfortunately, it turns out that the representative of this country in Poland, Ambassador Thomas Bagger, does not know this, as he allowed himself to make a critical remark on one of the social networking sites regarding the statement of Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak.
Nervous reaction from the German ambassador
Well, Deputy Prime Minister Błaszczak stated in the “Gość Wiadomości” program: “There is no doubt that it was the German policy that ensured that Putin got the money he used to strengthen his army.” And he added: “Nord Stream is a good example of this. Although we have often been called Russophobes by many politicians in Western European countries, the PiS environment has always warned of the Russian threat.” Ambassador Bagger reacted nervously to these words, although in line with Vice-Chancellor Habeck’s message in Davos, writing “Does the minister know how many billions of zlotys Poland has transferred to Moscow in exchange for Russian energy”. After a strong reaction from internet users and politicians (including the deputy foreign minister), Begger thought a bit and tried to convince the Polish public that the Germans had already changed their opinion of Russia and that they are now essentially similar are with the Polish. and finally asked “whether it has been noticed in Poland?”. Ambassador Bagger, Marcin Przydacz, head of the International Policy Office of the Chancellery of the Republic of Poland, invited Ambassador Bagger for an explanatory interview, at the same time informing him that he had previously pointed out “that the role of diplomats is not the role of a publicist commenting, talking to representatives of the country where he is a guest.”
However, it should be noted on this occasion that Ambassador Bagger made comments about German relations with Russia, as well as the Polish opposition, which included PO politicians in particular. Unfortunately, the opposition in Poland, and in particular the PO, still defends the policy of Angela Merkel’s government, probably because during 8 years of PO-PSL government, she not only supported this policy, but also actively participated in it. As it seems from the current perspective, it was precisely as a result of Germany’s expectations that Tusk and the PO decided in early 2008 on a reset policy with Russia, sacrificing fundamental Polish interests, including even an agreement on a 27-year gas contract. on very unfavorable financial terms (it was only the intervention of the European Commission that shortened this contract to 12 years, although the financial terms did not change). Neither Russia’s 2008 attack on Georgia, nor the 2010 Smolensk disaster, and then the 2014 attack on Ukraine changed the approach of the Tusk government and the PO towards Russia, because Germany did not change this approach either. As late as January 2021, Donald Tusk said at the CDU congress without any inhibition that “the rule of this party was a blessing for the whole of Europe, including Germany’s eastern neighbors”.
The German ambassador to Poland, as you can see, just went along with this PO leader’s rhetoric.
Source: wPolityce