VZCZCXYZ0004
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHRL #0721 0731646
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 141646Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2093
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BERLIN 000721 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/14/2016 
TAGS: PREL GM PL
SUBJECT: VISIT OF POLISH PRESIDENT KACZYNSKI TO GERMANY 
 
Classified By: POL M/C JOHN BAUMAN for reasons 1.4(B) and (D). 
 
 ¶1.  (C)  Summary:  During his visit to Berlin on March 8-9, 
Polish President Kaczynski criticized German positions on the 
EU, the German-Russian gas pipeline and the commemoration of 
World War II refugees.  However, his public remarks were 
relatively restrained, and German officials described the 
atmosphere of meetings he held with President Koehler, 
Chancellor Merkel, and Foreign Minister Steinmeier as good. 
While little progress was made in narrowing policy 
differences, the improved personal chemistry between 
Kaczynski and Chancellor Merkel was viewed by the Germans as 
progress.  The Polish president's tone was a bit more 
combative in newspaper interviews, and many German 
commentators highlighted differences between German and 
Polish political culture.  (End Summary) 
 
Speech on the EU 
 
¶2.  (C)  In a speech delivered at Berlin's Humboldt 
University, Kaczynski outlined his views on the EU in some 
detail.  He said the EU is composed of 25, soon to be 27, 
very different countries, and a more fully integrated EU 
federal state is at least 20 years in the future.  Europe 
simply is not ready for the federal state proposed in the EU 
constitution, he argued.  For the time being the EU should 
focus on expansion (Kaczynski advocated membership for 
Ukraine, Turkey and Georgia) and modest concrete goals such 
as creating a European intervention force or ensuring energy 
security.  Kaczynski stressed that Poland only regained its 
independence in 1989, which makes him reluctant to surrender 
more of Poland's sovereignty to the EU at this time. 
 
Meetings with Government Officials 
 
¶3.  (C)  According to Christine Weil, deputy director of the 
office at the Foreign Ministry responsible for Poland, 
Kaczynski's discussions with German officials went better 
than expected.  She said Kaczynski was particularly 
forthcoming in his meeting with President Koehler.  During 
his meeting with Foreign Minister Steinmeier Kaczynski 
repeated his concerns about the Baltic Sea pipeline agreement 
signed last year between Russia and Germany, but his tone was 
more restrained than in the past.  Weil said that Kaczynski 
mentioned the activities of the joint German-Poland working 
groups set up to address Polish concerns about the pipeline, 
and noted the theoretical possibility that Poland could draw 
gas from a branch of the pipeline. 
 
¶4.  (C) Michaela Kuchler, the desk officer at the Chancellery 
responsible for Polish affairs, said the atmosphere of 
Kaczynski's meeting with Chancellor Merkel was considerably 
better than when the two leaders met in Warsaw shortly after 
Merkel was elected.  They continued to disagree on 
substance--Kaczynski made the argument that the EU 
constitution would not succeed, and repeated his concerns 
about the gas pipeline--but the two leaders spoke easily with 
each other.  Kaczynski still expressed strong opposition to 
creating a German center on World War II refugees as the CDU 
would like to do, but he expressed support for a multilateral 
European effort ("Netzwerk") to commemorate refugees. 
Netzwerk was supported by the previous Polish government, but 
Chancellery officials said they had not heard President 
Kaczynski support it before he visited Berlin. 
 
Press Reaction 
 
¶5.  (C)  Kaczynski expressed his views somewhat more 
combatively in newspaper interviews that appeared during the 
visit, and much of the German press was unimpressed with 
Kaczynski's performance.  Coverage focused on Kaczynski's 
attitude toward the EU, which the Sueddeutsch Zeitung summed 
up as give nothing, receive much and be obstructionist. A 
number of commentators focused on a demonstration of gay 
rights activists that disrupted his speech at Humboldt 
University, because of Kaczynski's recent ban on a gay pride 
event in Warsaw, to underline what they argued were 
significant differences in German and Polish political 
culture. 
 
TIMKEN JR