PM accuses opposition leader of acting in German-Russian interests
Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish prime minister, has accused opposition leader Donald Tusk, a former prime minister, of implementing a Merkel-Putin pact which he likened to the pre-war Molotov-Ribbentrop pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
Speaking at an official event to mark the 84th anniversary of the USSR's invasion of Poland at the start of World War two, Morawiecki went on to say that in return for applying what he described as a "gas and raw materials pact" between Germany and Russia, Tusk received generous EU salaries and Germany's highest distinctions.
The accusations levelled at Tusk are the latest in a series of personal attacks on him from members of the United Right coalition government. The level and frequency of the attacks indicate that the government appears set on rounding on Tusk's alleged character flaws and misdeeds as often as possible before October 15's general election.
"September 17 is an absolutely symbolic date which should be remembered by the whole of Europe," Morawiecki said. "It is a date that at the same time reminds us of the ominous consequences of the Russian-German alliance, which is why in paying tribute to the victims of those Russian crimes, we also remind ourselves of today's threats connected with the German-Russian alliance."
The prime minister said it was this alliance and the "nightmarish gas and natural-resources policy that Germany conducted" that had enabled Russia's attack on Ukraine.
He said this policy and more had been facilitated by Tusk during his time as prime minister of Poland and that "just as there existed the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact that we know about so well, there also existed a de facto Merkel-Putin gas and raw materials pact."
Morawiecki added that "the main executor of the Merkel-Putin pact was Donald Tusk... and we cannot forget that nobody in Poland did more for Russia and for Germany over the last fifteen years than Donald Tusk."
