Historical phobias: why Poland is discussing the redistribution of borders in Europe

President of the National Bank of Poland Adam Glapiński said that Germany wants to achieve the return of former lands within the Polish borders. According to him, this became possible after the UK left the European Union. Interviewed REN TV experts explained that Glapiński’s words do not reflect the official position of the Polish government. Why in Poland they suddenly started talking about the redistribution of European lands – details in the material REN TV.

Reasons for Glapiński’s statement

In an interview with the Gazeta Polska weekly, Glapiński accused Germany of plans to “return the lands” that belonged to the Polish state after World War II and subjugate the countries located on the territory between Germany and the Russian Federation.

“Earlier, it was about the merger of the German states or the absorption of the GDR, that is, the former Soviet occupation zone, and from the moment this task was completed, about the return in one form or another of their former lands, which are now within the Polish borders, and the subjugation of the entire belt of countries between Germany and Russia – said the official.

Director of the Center for European Information Nikolai Toporinin noted that the German and Polish governments did not make such statements. He added that a person who works at the central bank cannot be in charge of the country’s foreign policy. The expert clarified that he had not heard anything about the serious and real plans of the Germans to take away part of the Polish lands.

“I believe that this is pure fake, and it is aimed at complicating Polish-German relations. For what purpose this is being done, it is difficult for me to say, because I have not seen such information yet. Maybe a person wants to attract attention, maybe something else, Toporinin explained.

Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) Andrey Kortunov was also not inclined to trust the chairman of the National Bank of Poland, since, in his opinion, the words of a high-ranking official “do not necessarily reflect” the official position of the Polish state.

“I think that the leadership of Poland still proceeds from the fact that post-war borders will not be reviewed and Germany is not going to put forward territorial claims against Poland, since the entire post-war order in Europe would be called into question,” – said the expert.

Relations between Germany and Poland

Toporinin said that such sentiments in Poland may be associated with people’s phobias: one in relation to Russia or the USSR, and the second in relation to Germany, because the Poles believe that the Germans treacherously attacked and occupied them. The USSR liberated the country, but then allegedly also occupied it. Therefore, Warsaw had historical claims to the Soviets and the Germans.

“And from time to time these claims are released into the public space. They have such an idea that Germany should pay indemnity for the damage caused to the Poles during the Second World War. This pops up in the public space from time to time, and they can even talk about it at the level of deputy prime ministers,” – said the specialist.

Earlier, the head of the ruling Law and Justice party in Poland, Yaroslav Kaczynski, said that Poland was going to demand reparations from Germany for the damage caused during the war, and noted that the topic of reparations should not be forgotten. However, Kortunov noted that there are a number of agreements between Poland and Germany that put an end to territorial issues.

“And no one in Germany at the official level is trying to raise these questions again. In this sense, the leadership has always been consistent, but as for such statements, one can guess why they are being made. This is explained by the general increase in anti-German sentiment in Poland, which is now observed perhaps a desire to return to the issues of reparations. Now there are such sentiments in Poland too, “ – said the political scientist.

According to him, if we talk about Polish politicians, we should not forget that the Law and Justice party, which many consider not only conservative, but also right-wing populist, is now in power in the country. And, of course, during her reign, the radicalization of many public sentiments began.

Does Poland claim Western Ukraine?

The press service of Russia’s foreign intelligence, referring to the head of the department, Sergei Naryshkin, said that Poland is trying to hide its expansion into the western part of Ukraine, conducting “camouflage propaganda.” Toporinin noted that such rumors did circulate, but there is no such official position, and the Polish Foreign Ministry denied it.

“Poland and Ukraine have always had difficult relations. There are certainly people who hold the view that it would be nice to return their lands. And therefore they have intensified their views, taking into account the fact that it seems to someone that Ukraine will not withstand, lose, fall apart , and then there will be these ownerless lands. And who, if not the Poles, will take these lands back”, – said the expert.

In addition, former Verkhovna Rada deputy Ilya Kiva said that Ukraine began to officially surrender its territory to Poland after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky submitted a bill to the Rada to grant the Poles a special status. Toporinin noted that no one officially announced such positions and intentions of Poland.

“This is still far from the official position of Warsaw. And I don’t think that in such a difficult time for Ukraine they will raise these land and territorial issues, because this will contradict their humanitarian approach to helping Ukraine, will not correspond to the European line – European Union”, – said the specialist.

EU influence on Poland

Toporinin believes that while Poland is in the EU, no such views are possible in practice. Then there will immediately be a reaction from Brussels, they will say: “Sorry, but this is not the way we behave, you yourself signed all the documents on the inviolability of the border and other points,” the specialist explained.

“Poland, as an EU country, to a large extent follows the pan-European approaches and sanctions policy, and now there are visa issues with regard to Russians. Here Poland follows the general general line of the EU. As we know, the EU has not expressed any claims on the territories of Poland and has not raised historical questions”, – explained the expert.

According to Kortunov, no one in Poland or Germany officially puts forward territorial claims against Ukraine, on the contrary, the official position of these countries is that they stand for the preservation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the borders in which it arose after the collapse of the USSR in 1991. .

“Of course, if we assume as a hypothetical scenario that the Ukrainian state will be called into question and the country will disintegrate, then some options are possible, since national minorities that historically belong to neighboring countries live on the territory of Ukraine. This can be said about the Hungarian minority, Romanian and so on,” the political scientist explained.

In his opinion, only then will new twists in this topic be possible, but not at the moment. Now no one is making any real claims to Ukraine and no one is declaring a desire to put some Ukrainian territories under their control.