Macron seeks to reset ties on Poland visit

Bloomberg

Emmanuel Macron will need all of his charm to rekindle France’s relationship with Poland.
In the first visit to Warsaw by a French head of state in six years, he’s seeking to mend relations strained by his criticism of Poland’s controversial overhaul of the judiciary and its
rejection of a deal with Airbus in 2016.
Meeting his counterpart Andrzej Duda and PM Mateusz Morawiecki, as well as an opposition official in parliament on Monday, Macron aims to clarify the position of France on misunderstandings, tension and worries, according to a French official who asked not to be named to comply with government rules.
Macron’s attempt to patch over strains with the European Union’s biggest ex-communist member is central to his plans to strengthen the bloc after the UK’s departure and as Germany’s role as the main engine of EU integration fades.
He has committed to visit every EU state’s leadership to beef up engagement with the union, including political “frenemies” like Hungarian PM Viktor Orban.
While Poland and France agree on areas including the need for a digital tax, a European car-battery industry and fighting tax fraud, there are also major differences.
Poland’s reluctance towards the bloc’s climate-change and migration policies weigh on the relationship. Macron has also extended an olive branch to Moscow while making strongly worded comments on the limits of Nato, which Poland sees as its main defense from potential aggression from its Cold-War master Russia.
“I don’t see a chance for real rapprochement given the fundamentally different focus of both governments,” said Marcin Zaborowski, a senior associate at the Visegrad Insight think tank. “Macron is radically pro-European while Poland is on a reverse trajectory.”
Macron also snubbed Poland when he said it shouldn’t access EU climate-transition funds until the Warsaw explicitly backs the bloc’s emissions-cutting goals. Saying that pro-environment activists should go demonstrate in Poland rather than in France also didn’t go down well.
Warsaw’s confirmation that it would purchase 32 F-15 aircraft from US manufacturer Lockheed Martin is yet another blow to Macron’s push for European defense cooperation underpinned by EU-made equipment.