A politician from Poland’s Confederation party, which has quickly grown to the third most popular party in the country, says his country’s support for Poland has totally backfired.
“Despite all our sacrifices, Ukraine treats us like an enemy state. It’s tempting to say that our policy towards Ukraine was a failure, and today it’s showing,” said Michał Wawer, a member of parliament for the Confederation, in an interview with DoRzeczy.
When asked about Poland’s absence from peace talks with Trump, Zelensky and other European leaders at the White House this week, Wawer, responded that his country should have been represented.
“Unfortunately, it’s a failure of Polish international policy that, after all the sacrifices Poland has made for Ukraine, and in a situation where we are Ukraine’s main logistical base, we are not allowed at the decision-making table. This is a failure of the policies of both Donald Tusk and, earlier, Mateusz Morawiecki,” said Wawer, referring to both the past conservative government and the current ruling liberal government.
“Both governments assumed that Ukraine must be given everything, and out of gratitude, Poland would have a voice and be taken into account. No. International politics doesn’t work that way. If we want our interests represented, to have a voice in all regional matters, we must consistently and effectively strive for this from the very beginning, and not—as a former spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs put it—be ‘servants of Ukraine.'” he added.
Wawer is not only reserving criticism for the left, but takes shots at the new ruling president, Karol Nawrocki, who belongs to the conservative camp.
“I won’t attempt to judge whose decision it was or who was most at fault. I’ve heard that Donald Trump didn’t want Donald Tusk, and Volodymyr Zelensky didn’t want Karol Nawrocki. If either of these versions is true, and that’s what it looked like, it unfortunately demonstrates that other countries are playing games with our internal affairs and playing off competition between our international policy centers,” the Confederation politician said.
As head of the armed forces, Nawrocki represents Poland in many foreign matters, however, he also represents a different political position than the rest of the ruling government. Wawer says this arrangement, when two competing political powers represent the prime minister and president positions, it has often led to weakness in foreign matters for Poland in the past.
The Confederation politician said that too much was done for Ukraine without looking to Polish interests.
“As a Confederation, we’ve been paying attention to this from the very beginning. We’ve tried to correct this course, proposing amendments and drafting laws that rationalized the approach to Ukraine. Unfortunately, they were consistently discarded – first by the PiS government, then by Donald Tusk’s government. Today we see the consequences – Poland simply isn’t getting anything out of it. Despite all these sacrifices, Ukraine treats us as an enemy state. It’s tempting to say that our policy towards Ukraine was a failure, and today it’s showing,” he said.
He further added that Poland should never offer “unconditional aid” and that aid should always be conditional on Poland’s interests.
“It’s unacceptable for the Polish government to prioritize Ukraine’s interests over the interests of the Polish economy, Polish historical interests, or even its overall sense of self-respect. Any time is right to change this policy and pursue it more rationally and assertively,” said Wawer.
He is calling for an end to social benefits for Ukrainians and stop prioritizing their privileged access to healthcare compared to Poles. In addition, Poland needs to become more assertive in its policies towards Ukraine.
The Confederation policy also told Do Rzeczy that he does not know if the war will end, but he hopes a ceasefire can at least be achieved if not an outright peace deal.
