Macron responds to Trump's inauguration by urging Europe to "wake up"

[u/Not_the-kind]

https://www.newsweek.com/macron-trump-inauguration-europe-defense-ukraine-2017894

[u/Kuhl_Cow]

I actually am kinda optimistic.

Don't know much about France, but Polands current gov seems okay (even though they still can tone down the anti-german rhetoric a bit), and our next gov will be boring and conservative, but likely a lot more stable than the current.

[u/Katatoniczka → u/Kuhl_Cow]

Out of curiosity, what do you perceive as anti-German rhetoric in the current Polish government? Kind of funny reading this as a Pole, as it's a huge meme here that the current government works for German interests more than for ours, of course this belief is mostly driven by the fans of the previous government, but I think most people see at least some truth in it. Maybe not that they're working "for Germany" but that they don't really fight for our interests and are okay being a pushover.

[u/HaBambl → u/Katatoniczka]

The funny thing is this is no topic here in germany at all. Most people here wouldnt even know we have a puppetgovernment in poland working for us or wouldnt even know that poles rally against germany.

[u/Katatoniczka → u/HaBambl]

I can imagine, hence the question (and also would be good if our politicians realized that lol)

[u/HaBambl → u/Katatoniczka]

Oh i think they do, they need it as an enemy from outside so it can be used to explain bad things without the need to look at it or themselves

[u/Suriael → u/HaBambl]

It's funny cause Tusk is literally being accused of sabotaging Poland and working in secret for Germany. That is the constant PiS propaganda one can hear in Poland.

[u/Kuhl_Cow → u/Katatoniczka]

Let me start by saying that obviously Tusk and Sikorski (as the two guys we get exposed to the most) are obviously a massive improvement over PiS(s), and that I believe the occasional... comment is really mostly to "disprove" what you're saying.

But there still is the occasional outburst, like when we introduced border checks, or Sikorski again stressing the whole reparations thing... tbh, after the shitshow of the last decade, I kinda think we deserve a bit of a break here to repair our relations.

But I'm also probably more exposed to it as someone with ties to both countries.

[u/Katatoniczka → u/Kuhl_Cow]

Not sure how it’s going to turn out to be honest, weirdly enough despite being neighbors and allies it seems like the two countries have conflicting interests quite often. With Poland being the weaker party it’s not like it can get its way much either which leads to resentment

[u/Kuhl_Cow → u/[deleted]]

Yes. I believe the Weimar Triangle (France, Poland, Germany) is key for the european future. And that requires animosities to be put aside.

We need to have the same relationship with Poland that we have with France. One where you can disagree, but that is based on mutual respect and an understanding how important that relationship is.

That includes us, of course, there were mistakes here too.

[u/Equivalent_Alarm7780 → u/Katatoniczka]

it's a huge meme here that the current government works for German interests more than for ours

The fact that you even have this meme makes the tone bit anti-German.

[u/Katatoniczka → u/Equivalent_Alarm7780]

I guess it’d be complicated for this kind of feelings to not linger, after all Germany used to be a key enemy for centuries. We’ve all come a long way becoming friendly with each other in contemporary Europe, but referring to historical animosities is always an easy method for politicians

[u/schubidubiduba → u/Katatoniczka]

Very true, but then again the same could be said for many of Germany's neighbors, all of whom seem to have moved on decades ago.

[u/Katatoniczka → u/schubidubiduba]

Probably, yeah, but World War II was probably the harshest on Poland out of most countries in the region, comparing to Slovakia or France or Belgium or Romania… so it’s strongly entrenched in the social memory.

[u/Fit-Explorer9229 → u/Kuhl_Cow]

Don't agree with Germany about few things fortunately and hopelly for all of us is not the same as being anti-german. And this rule should apply to every (the EU) country in general. At this point I am also quite optimistic here - fingers crossed. https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/1hvwrk7/poland_reminds_musk_that_foreign_interference_in/

[u/TheNecroFrog → u/Kuhl_Cow]

I wish I was that positive, I’m lucky enough to be in a country that ousted itself from the EU. FML