The head of Poland’s Law and Justice Party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, declared he intends to reprimand German Chancellor Angela Merkel for what he sees as the spurious comments towards Poland in the German media. As the conservative leadership in Poland has challenged EU policy, the German media has made their displeasure known in the press. Poland believes they are spouting Merkel’s policies and loyal to her.
“I will have to tell the chancellor that Germany should decide what kind of relations it wants to have with Poland, because one cannot attack Poland, question its reputation and at the same time expect bilateral relations to be good,” Kaczynski said, reports AP.
Germany’s leading daily newspaper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, said on Jan. 2 that Poland is a problem because the government is pursuing its own values and subordinating state bodies to its goals. The newspaper predicted Germany’s relations with Poland would grow increasingly difficult, reported AP.
Merkel is taking criticism from several populist movements as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump also recently characterized her leadership as a failure due to her allowing the alarming number of migrants into German society. Poland also wants to distance itself from these migration policies.