Relations with Poland are falling into the abyss. The ambassador stayed in Prague for a month
Definitely Duda
The paradox is that in Poland, as in the Czech Republic, the one who appoints and dismisses ambassadors is not the prime minister. That’s just the president. Therefore, the future of the Polish ambassador lies in the hands of not the Polish government and its prime minister, but President Duda. He is now isolated due to a covid infection. In addition, in recent weeks, the government has introduced a key law on the expropriation of US-owned investors, especially the independent news television station TVN.
There is not much chance of an embassy despite the government’s opposition.
The leadership of the mines coughed
In his interview with the Polish editorial office of Deutsche Welle, Ambassador Miroslaw Jasinski did nothing but state the facts that Czech diplomats and politicians, who tried to reach an agreement with the Poles to resolve the Turów case from the beginning, stated.
For years, basically until the threat of lawsuits before the European Court in Luxembourg, the Polish side refused to talk to the Czech side. “There was a lack of empathy, a lack of understanding and a lack of willingness to engage in dialogue – especially on the Polish side,” said the Polish ambassador, who identified the people at the management of the Polish PGE mines as the main vineyards.
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He also reminded that in similar cases as Turów, Poland had already compensated Polish citizens near the mines in the past. Therefore, according to him, there was no reason not to compensate the Czechs living near Turów on a similar principle. “The same goes for the surroundings of Turów on the Polish side. The question is why this should not apply to people who live a mile or two from the mine, but on the other side of the border. He already took the usual measures to stop mining and granted Poland for its continuation of the fine, which was fined every day before.
The ambassador refused to appeal
Jasinski did not distance himself from his statements in an interview with Deutsche Welle. “I do not regret what I said. The Turów case needs to be resolved because it casts a shadow over our relations with the Czechs, “he said in an interview with Onet.pl on Thursday.
Jasinki is one of the Czech Republic’s greatest experts in Polish diplomacy. He was one of the co-founders of the Polish-Czechoslovak Solidarity, in which dissidents from both countries cooperated. At the beginning of the 1990s, he worked at the Polish Embassy in the Czech Republic, and from 2001 to 2007 he headed the Polish Institute in Prague. He is one of the sympathizers of the current Government of Law and Justice and has excellent contacts in the policy of ODS Prime Minister Petr Fiala.
Big plans for reconciliation with Prague
In an interview with Deutsche Welle, in addition to a possible compromise around the Turów mine, he also suggested many things that could improve Czech-Polish relations. For example, better planning for the construction of the motorway network, where there was no connection of the motorway between Jaroměř and Poland, where a motorway is built almost from the Czech border to the Baltic Sea.
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Jasinski also plans to initiate joint events and exhibitions to mark the millennium of the coronation of Boleslav the Brave, one of the greatest Polish monarchs, who was also a mother from half of Bohemia. The ambassador also wanted to achieve a full renewal of the Department of Polish Studies at Charles University and many other steps to improve relations.
What will the Czech government do?
But now nothing of these plans unless President Duda intervenes or the Czech side calms down Warsaw. In addition, relationships can worsen significantly. This is evidenced by the aggressive statement of the politicians of the ruling PiS, who accuse the ambassadors of “betrayal of the nation”. Poland did not have an ambassador in Prague for almost two years. Just at the time when the Polish embassy in Prague was without an ambassador, Czech-Polish relations fell into perhaps the most severe post-war crisis.
In addition to the lawsuit before the European Court of Justice, relations on the Czech-Polish border are also appropriate, and on the Polish side, attacks against the Czechs and the then government, led by Andrej Babiš, were recorded during the lawsuits against Turów. Petr Fiala’s new Czech cabinet hoped that the dispute over Turów would be resolved quickly and relations with Warsaw would return to normal.