Polish President Andrzej Duda thanked his German counterpart Frank Walter Steinmeier for the offer to deploy the Patriot anti-missile batteries in Poland – an issue that caused a minor diplomatic crisis between the two countries in recent weeks – during his visit to Berlin on Monday.
“Germany was and still are a great European country – a NATO member and our neighbour. We are tied by joint interests and history. I thank President of Germany for the decision to send the Patriot batteries to Poland,” said Duda after the meeting with Steinmeier, as quoted by Gazeta.pl.
Reinforcing Polish air defence capabilities is of great importance for building our security, he insisted, adding that, in the coming days, experts from both countries are to decide the exact place of the system’s deployment.
Duda’s warm words contrast previous statements by the Polish government as Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak recently accused his German counterpart Christine Lambrecht of breaking the confidentiality of negotiations of the deployment.
Berlin’s offer came after last month’s rocket explosion in Przewodów near Ukraine’s border, killing two people. The preparation for deploying new weapons will begin as soon as this week.
According to Bild, despite the request by Poland to keep a secret until the deal is agreed upon, Lambrecht told Rheinische Post about the offer for Poland.
German minister’s alleged lack of discretion was not the only problem. Poland, although it welcomed the offer, insisted the Patriots be deployed in war-torn Ukraine – a suggestion that the German side rejected, citing the impossibility of sending weapons that are elements of the NATO air defence system to a non-NATO country.
At the end of the day, Warsaw agreed to the German proposal, even though it emphasised it was not fully satisfied. “I acknowledged with disappointment the decision to refuse the support for Ukraine. (…) We are proceeding to arrangements concerning deploying the missile launchers in Poland,” Błaszczak tweeted on 6 December.
(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | EURACTIV.pl)
Source: euractiv.com
