New German leader seeks to boost ties with Warsaw

— Germany’s new chancellor, Olaf Scholz, visited Warsaw Sunday for talks with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki about immigration, energy, European Union matters and tensions east of the bloc’s border.

He was greeted by Morawiecki, with military honors, in front of the Polish premier’s office. It was one of Scholz’s early visits after he was sworn in with his coalition Cabinet on Wednesday.

Poland is a vocal opponent of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that will carry Russian gas directly to Germany, saying it makes Europe dependent on Russia’s deliveries, and exposes it to pressure from Moscow. Germany’s regulator has suspended the approval procedure for the completed pipeline because of legal issues.

The government in Warsaw is also involved in an intensifying dispute with the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, which is withholding pandemic recovery funds from Poland saying the government’s policies erode judicial independence there.

Scholz and Morawiecki also discussed complex bilateral relations under Germany’s new government. The good neighborly ties are still overshadowed by World War II, especially under Poland’s current right-wing government, which says Germany owes Poland compensation for wartime damages. fal, the deputy director of the German Institute for Polish Affairs in Darmstadt, Germany, expects Scholz’s government to continue dialogue and contact with Poland, which is an important member on EU’s eastern flank and Germany’s fifth-largest trading partner.

Germany’s new foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, was in Warsaw on Friday. She voiced support for Poland, which has sealed its eastern frontier to migrants who are apparently encouraged by the Belarus government to seek illegal passage. Poland and the EU say Belarusian President Aleksander Lukashenko is seeking to destabilize the bloc by encouraging migration into its countries.

Scholz became Germany’s ninth post-World War II chancellor, opening a new era for the EU’s most populous nation and largest economy after Angela Merkel’s 16-year tenure.