Poland’s Duda criticised for chat with Trump in Washington – Euractiv

WARSAW – Polish President Andrzej Duda faced criticism from the ruling coalition over his meeting with Donald Trump in Washington at a conservative event, with many politicians suggesting that the US leader had snubbed his Polish counterpart.

The two leaders met on the sidelines of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Convention Centre in National Harbor, near Washington, for a 10-minute conversation that touched on the US military presence in Poland and ending the war in Ukraine, Duda said.

“Backstage at CPAC, President Trump met with President Andrzej Duda of Poland and reaffirmed our close alliance. President Trump also praised President Andrzej Duda for Poland’s commitment to increase their defence spending,” the White House wrote on X.

“There is no fear that the US presence in Poland will decrease. Donald Trump said he would rather expect an increase in the US presence with regard to Poland,” Duda told reporters after the meeting.

In his conversation with Trump, Duda said he tried to stress the strategic importance of NATO’s eastern flank. He also mentioned that he told Pete Hegseth that Poland should move forward with the “Fort Trump” project.

Unveiled in 2018, ‘Fort Trump’ was Poland’s proposal for a permanent US military base on its territory, although the project is yet to be implemented.

According to Duda, Trump acknowledged the project and reassured him that there was no reason for concern as “Poland is one of the most credible allies”, both militarily and economically.

A ‘Slap in the face’

Duda’s visit was criticised by the ruling coalition.

Marcin Bosacki, a Civic Platform MP and member of the parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, condemned the lack of professionalism in the organisation of the meeting, pointing to the long wait and short conversation.

Even though the idea of a Duda-Trump meeting was laudable, “everything was done wrong,” he said on X.

“The Polish president did not present Poland’s position, either at the CPAC conference or […] during a joint press briefing with Trump,” he wrote, adding that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, meanwhile, “used the opportunity to present his own – pro-Russian and anti-European – views.”

“Duda went to the US as a head of state, not as a representative of PiS [the party he used to belong to],” Civic Platform MEP Krzysztof Brejza told Radio Zet, adding that Duda should be treated with the seriousness he deserves and that the visit should have been better planned.

Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus, an MEP of the New Left party, pointed out that although the brief meeting could be perceived as a “slap in the face”, any such meeting was valuable in the current situation. “I would urge caution with emotions, because in reality we don’t know what was discussed during the meeting,” she told Radio Zet.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk also said the situation should be treated seriously.

“There is nothing to laugh about. Let’s be serious because the [security] situation is getting really serious,” he said.

‘A friend is not belittled’

The secretary of state in the president’s office, Andrzej Dera, told Polsat News on Sunday that he didn’t think the fact that the conversation was brief indicated a lack of respect for the Polish president, noting that Trump had referred to Duda as a friend.

“A friend is not belittled […] You speak differently with a friend. There’s no need for long hours of negotiations or talks; with a friend, you speak directly and to the point,” he said.

Dera also commented on a post by Donald Tusk, which he saw as a veiled mockery.

“He continuously shows his spitefulness and immaturity in what he does, because the post may seem serious, but it also reveals something that shouldn’t be happening,” he assessed.

Tusk’s government has a frosty relationship with Duda, whom it accuses of favouring his old party, the consevative PiS. It hopes the May elections, in which Duda cannot run for another term due to constitutional limits, will allow it to gain full power in Poland.

The current mayor of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, who is running for president as the candidate of Tusk’s Civic Platform (PO, EPP), is leading the presidential polls ahead of PiS’s Karol Nawrocki.

(Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | Euractiv.pl)