Duda-Trump meeting raises eyebrows in Poland

Polish President Andrzej Duda’s plans to meet with former US president Donald Trump during his visit to Washington on Wednesday were met with astonishment in Warsaw.

According to sources quoted by the Associated Press and the Polish tabloid Fakt, the Polish president was invited to dinner at Trump Tower Wednesday at a time Trump is amid a criminal trial charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.

The meeting comes as European leaders prepare for the possibility of a Trump return to power after the US presidential elections this autumn. Trump’s long history of critical comments about NATO and positive statements about Russia makes such a scenario particularly worrying for Europe, which has Russia’s war against Ukraine on its doorstep.

Duda has been a staunch supporter of Ukraine since Russia’s war of aggression began in February 2022 and has been one of the European leaders with the best relations with Trump, who once suggested naming a military base in his country ‘Fort Trump.’

“We care about relations with all spheres in the USA, including influential people. We’re talking about a man who was the US president for four years,” Duda said.

‘Outrageous decision’

“It is not my role to judge whether it is good for that meeting to take place,” said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk when asked about his reaction to Duda’s plans.

Still, “there will definitely be a lot of controversy” or even “a sensation” about it, he said, adding that Duda “would meet Mr Trump right after he leaves the courtroom.”

Tusk said he expected Trump “to take a very firm stance on the issue of (Trump) clearly siding with the Western world, democracy, and Europe.”

Although Tusk and Duda come from different political camps and are bitterly divided over several domestic issues, they agree on the importance of continuing support for Ukraine.

However, ministers in Tusk’s government were divided on the issue.

“Poland depends largely on Joe Biden’s administration,” Sport and Tourism Minister Sławomir Nitras of Tusk’s Civic Platform (PO, EPP) told the private Polsat News broadcaster.

He said it is “outrageous” that Duda decided to meet with Trump, adding that he feared “that Mr. Duda and his office are simply not up to the function they perform.”

On the other hand, Deputy Defence Minister Paweł Zalewski welcomed the meeting, saying Poland could benefit from it. “We must convince everyone of our arguments as representatives of our own interest,” he told the private radio TOK FM.

Meanwhile, “We have seen over the course of years of American elections where foreign governments engage with the nominees of major parties here, just as American diplomats and American leaders often engage with foreign opposition leaders,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said during a press briefing.

In recent months, Trump has received British Foreign Secretary David Cameron and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who, after the meeting, said Trump told him he would not give money to help Ukraine fight Russia if he won the US presidency again.

Duda has long expressed admiration for Trump, and while he was invited to the White House during then-President Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign, he congratulated Biden after his victory over Trump.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)

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