Emmanuel Macron to visit Poland early next year

Warsaw, Poland – French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to make an official visit to Poland in the first months of 2020, according to local daily Ouest-France.

In an exclusive interview with Ouest-France published late last month, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki outlined the topics that should be discussed during the visit of the French head of state, who was initially supposed to come to Poland this year.

“I hope for a new opening. We have already agreed with President Macron to visit Poland in the first months of 2020 to revitalise relations. In reality, despite there being some tensions, relations are not so dark”, Morawiecki said, highlighting the importance of French investment in the country and strong bilateral economic cooperation.

While Poland has just recently joined a flagship Franco-German project on electric battery systems, the Polish Prime Minister outlined the need for greater cooperation in order to create European champions in key industries, including under the framework of the so-called ‘Weimar Triangle’ (a format gathering the French, German and Polish leaders).

Relations between France and Poland have been heavily strained in recent years, especially after Polish authorities cancelled in 2016 a massive contract for 50 Airbus-made Caracal military helicopters at the last minute.

Paris and Warsaw have also repeatedly clashed over a number of issues in the past several months and years, including migration, the rule of law and the EU budget. Macron had for example previously accused Poland’s leaders of “lying to their people about the European Union”, while Polish Foreign Minister Jacek Czaputowicz labelled France “the sick man of Europe”.