Chancellor Olaf Solz described Poland as a “good neighbor and partner” and “reliable friend” during his visit to Warsaw today, the first since the return to power of Prime Minister Donald Tusk. The two countries agreed on a joint plan of action, while the debate over the Polish demand for war reparations remained unclear.

“Only together can we face the global challenges of our time and defend Europe’s security,” said Mr. Solz, adding that the two countries are already “good neighbors, partners and reliable friends, but they also want to create a new dynamics”, expanding their cooperation in many areas. Mr. Tusk, for his part, said that he sees Germany as “a leading force for the common security of Europe, including Poland.” A significant part of the plan of action concerns the defense anyway. “We will strengthen the interoperability and standardization of our defense capabilities, increase production capacity and promote the investment of our defense industry,” the 40-page plan signed by the two leaders states, stressing that special emphasis should be placed on undertaking joint initiatives in the field of tanks and ammunition, with the main concern being the sufficiency of spare parts for the Leopards delivered by Germany and Poland to Ukraine.

The plan does not mention specific commitments on the issue of war reparations claimed by Poland. “Germany knows the gravity of its guilt, its responsibility for the millions of victims of the German occupation and the mission resulting from it,” Mr. Scholz said, adding that “the situation of the elderly victims is one that concerns us greatly. and we will also take action in this area.” Olaf Solz, however, did not specify when and how much compensation should be paid to the approximately 40,000 living victims of the German occupation of Poland. However, as a project in the context of the reconciliation effort, the action plan mentions the construction of a “German-Polish House” in Berlin.

The two countries are also responsible for jointly ensuring the operation of the Swed refinery in Brandenburg, which supplies northeastern Germany and eastern Poland.

Today’s meeting in Warsaw was the first intergovernmental meeting of the two sides since 2018. In recent years, Polish governments have abandoned the project and used particularly high tones against Germany, demanding war reparations of 1.3 trillion euros. Mr Tusk has so far not repeated these demands and today limited himself to stating that “steps are being taken in the right direction”.