Relations between Kyiv and Warsaw under the newly elected President Karol Nawrocki of Poland will not change, as a political consensus remains there on what relations with Ukraine should be. The emphasis is on military-political support for Ukraine so that the latter can defend itself from Russian aggression, which also meets Poland’s interests.
This was stated in a comment to an Ukrinform correspondent by Daniel Szeligowski, an expert on Ukraine issues, coordinator of the Eastern Europe program at the Polish Institute of International Relations (PISM).
“I believe Ukrainian-Polish relations will not change, as in general there is a broad inter-party consensus in Poland on what these relations should look like. The foundation is security issues, that is, military and political support for Ukraine, so that it can defend itself from Russia and generally strengthen its statehood,” Szeligowski emphasized.
He emphasized that the difference in views on Polish policy toward Ukraine between Karol Nawrocki and his recent rival in the runoff of the presidential election, Rafal Trzaskowski, “is paradoxically insignificant.”
According to the pundit, both spoke in favor of a “more pragmatic and resolute policy” toward Ukraine.
“That is, it’s not about personalities, which is what attracts significant attention in Ukraine, it’s a systemic issue in Poland,” the expert emphasized.
He explained that the main political forces in Poland have a similar political perception of relations with Ukraine, and they believe this policy has been “one-sided” to this day.
“That is, Poland helped Ukraine a lot, and Ukraine was a demanding and complaining partner, and also one that accused Poland of some hostile actions (border blockade – ed.),” the PISM expert noted.
He called the second factor the public demand, to which in a democratic country both government and president should pay attention. He explained that the mood in Poland is changing as people now “demand a more solid and pragmatic policy toward Ukraine”.
Szeligowski noted that the perception of relations with Ukraine in Poland is based on the assertion that “it was not possible to make a breakthrough in the area of complex history”, despite the fact that the previous Polish government “invested a lot in relations with Ukraine” (the government of Mateusz Morawiecki – ed.). At the same time, Szeligowski stressed that the progress that has been made in recent weeks in the area of complex history is “very good news” for Ukrainian-Polish relations.
As the expert noted, in Poland there has been an informal division of competences to this day: the president has always played a more significant role in policy toward Ukraine, but this has happened in cooperation with the government. At the same time, the Polish government has always been less active in the Ukrainian direction.
“Instead, now we are dealing with a more proactive government policy toward Ukraine, since the war is ongoing, there are issues of international negotiations, a European coalition, and therefore the government and Prime Minister Donald Tusk are much more engaged in relations with Ukraine than his predecessor (Mateusz Morawiecki – ed.),” the expert emphasized.
In this regard, in his opinion, it is now difficult to say what role President Nawrocki will play in pursuing Polish policies toward Ukraine.
“Part of the role that the president previously assumed is now being performed by the prime minister. It is difficult to say whether there will be an agreement between the president and prime minister on the issue of policy toward Ukraine. “It is only certain that he will insist on resolving historical issues, because he had been the head of the Polish Institute of National Remembrance until recently,” emphasized the coordinator of the Eastern Europe program at the Polish Institute of International Relations.
The expert added that Nawrocki would like to build up dialogue at the highest level with the President of Ukraine, where history will be an important element, as he mentioned in his post on X in response to congratulations from Volodymyr Zelensky. However, economic issues, Ukraine’s integration into the EU and NATO will remain at the government’s realm. He did not rule out that the newly elected Polish president “will play a significantly smaller role in policy toward Ukraine than his predecessors have played to this day.”
Szeligowski believes Ukrainians do not need to focus excessively on Nawrocki’s critical statements made during his campaign regarding Ukraine’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration.
“Poland does not stand in the way of Ukraine’s NATO membership while opponents of this step are in Washington and several other EU capitals… It is best to focus on priorities now – how to win this war and build a strong Ukraine, and not look for enemies where there are none,” the Polish expert concluded.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, President Volodymyr Zelensky congratulated Karol Nawrocki on his victory in the Polish presidential elections. The candidate from the right-wing conservative Law and Justice party, head of the Institute of National Remembrance, Karol Nawrocki, won the election runoff on June 1, gaining 50.89%, beating his rival, Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, by 1.78%.
During his campaign, Nawrocki repeatedly voiced skepticism about supporting Ukraine’s membership in NATO and the EU. He emphasized that Poland would no longer be a “servant country” for Ukraine. The newly elected president is skeptical about further support for displaced Ukrainians in Poland, and urges Ukraine to recognize full responsibility for the Volyn tragedy of 1943–1945 as a condition for improving Polish-Ukrainian relations, which have deteriorated significantly over the past two years.
Source: Ukrainian-Polish relations not to change under President Nawrocki – Polish expert
