Relations between Kyiv and Warsaw will not change radically under President Karol Nawrocki; only the emphasis will be different.
This opinion was expressed in a comment to Ukrinform by the Polish expert on international affairs and lecturer at Lazarski University in Warsaw, Michał Kuź, commenting on the start of Nawrocki’s presidency.
“I think that relations will continue to be good. The start of Nawrocki’s presidency will not mean any radical change,” Kuź said.
The expert emphasized that despite the acute domestic political dispute in Poland, particularly regarding the reform of the judicial system, Nawrocki and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk have more points of contact than differences on key foreign policy and security issues.
“First and foremost, this concerns the attitude towards Russia as the main threat, the perception of NATO as the main guarantor of security, and the development of the Polish army,” Kuź emphasized.
He added that these differences between the President and the head of the Polish government will be even less pronounced after the recent signing of the trade agreement between the EU and the U.S., noting that Nawrocki is more focused on cooperation with the U.S., while Tusk is more focused on cooperation with Germany and the Weimar Triangle.
“So, there are no significant differences, and the result of this is the approach to Ukraine. I do not expect any negative steps from Karol Nawrocki from Kyiv’s point of view in terms of security, military support, and logistics routes passing through Polish territory,” the expert stressed.
However, he stressed that the new Polish President “will shift the emphasis in historical policy.” He recalled that Nawrocki is a historian, recently he headed the Institute of National Remembrance of Poland, and already during the campaign declared that he would give priority to the issue of search and exhumation work in Volyn.
“He will defend Ukraine’s independence, but if we want closer ties and a policy of closer Polish-Ukrainian cooperation, then we must resolve the issue of exhumations in a mutually beneficial way,” Kuź emphasized.
Otherwise, according to him, the new Polish President will continue to support independence, but nothing else will happen.
“It will be a cool friendship or a marriage of convenience, but without any deeper cooperation or deeper understanding,” the Polish expert concluded.
The agency reported that newly elected Polish President Karol Nawrocki took the oath of office on Wednesday during a joint session of the Sejm and Senate (the Lower and Upper Houses of the Polish Parliament).
The Head of the International Policy Bureau at the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland, Marcin Przydacz, recently stated that the new Polish President, Karol Nawrocki, will support Ukraine, particularly in the context of military aid and countering Russian aggression, but this aid will not be unconditional. Poland will have its conditions, particularly in terms of its complex history.
U.S. President Donald Trump invited the new Polish President, Karol Nawrocki, to Washington for a meeting on September 3.
Source: Expert: Poland–Ukraine relations to remain stable under Nawrocki, with shift in emphasis
