Poland:The conciliatory style of the new PM has reversed some of the damage wrought by the Kaczynskis, writes Derek Scally
Donald Tusk had a pleasant surprise before Christmas on his first visit to Brussels as prime minister of Poland. After two long years of tense relations and accusatory tones, Warsaw and Brussels seemed to be speaking the same language.
"We discussed the future in a spirit of trust - of 'zaufanie' - to use the Polish word," said commission president José Manuel Barroso. It was a complimentary nod to Tusk's first parliamentary address, when he used "zaufanie" no less than 45 times. A delighted Tusk gave a practical example of this new "zaufanie" a few days later by reversing his predecessor's opposition to a European day against the death penalty.
The new year marks the end of Tusk's honeymoon period, and his resolution as prime minister - to be nice but firm - will soon be put to the test.
There's the annual haggling over fishing quotas and Warsaw's long-running stand-off with the EU about a motorway through a Polish nature reserve.
Add to that the US missile shield, EU limits on carbon dioxide emissions and wide-ranging energy security concerns.
"Tusk has said that he wants to fight for Poland's interests but on the basis of mutual confidence and understanding," said Pawel Swieboda of the Demoseuropa think tank. "This rhetoric is quite refreshing but we will have to see what it means." The most important test of the new tone will be negotiations on reform of the €43 billion common agricultural policy (Cap).
Poland's junior coalition partner, the Peasants' Party (PSL), is anxious to defend Poland's €1.5 billion farming subsidy and, in negotiations about reforming the Cap, could prove a useful partner for Ireland.
Establishing a constructive tone with other neighbours will depend on Tusk's ability to keep the peace with political rival Lech Kaczynski, the man who beat him to the presidential palace in 2005.
President Kaczynski's constitutional right to help steer foreign policy is full of conflict potential, particularly if he is used as a political proxy by his twin brother, opposition leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski.
Tusk agreed that the president would also travel to the recent EU summit, but only after making clear that it was himself and his foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski, who speak for Poland abroad.
The new government has brought back many experienced Polish diplomats unceremoniously dumped by the previous administration. This emphasis on old hands rather than fresh faces has been welcomed in Brussels but less so in Berlin where, earlier this month, German officials gave a polite but cautious welcome to Sikorski.
"It was the first time in years a Polish foreign minister came to Berlin not wanting to make war, but to talk," said a senior foreign ministry official. But few in Berlin will forget Sikorski's accusation, as a member of the Kaczynski cabinet, that a Russian-German Baltic Sea gas pipeline to bypass Poland was a modern-day equivalent of the 1939 Molotov- Rippentrop Pact to carve up Poland.
Nevertheless, the relief at the change of government in Warsaw means Berlin is anxious to find a way to give Poland access to the pipeline, guaranteeing its gas supplies. Berlin and Warsaw have agreed to revive bilateral talks to find compromises on controversial issues, such as a proposed Berlin memorial to Germans expelled from Polish territory after the second World War, which is highly unpopular in Warsaw.
Looking east, Tusk has already demonstrated a more sophisticated diplomacy towards Moscow. Despite concerns over the fairness of the recent Russian elections, he made an important gesture by lifting Poland's veto on Russia's entry to the OECD. In return Moscow has lifted its import ban on Polish produce.
A new tone with Washington is already clear: Warsaw will not only pull its troops out of Iraq next year, but is likely to play for time on the controversial US missile shield to be partially sited in Poland.
"Tusk understands the strategic concerns of the missile defence project but he is not comfortable with it," said Swieboda. "He will wait until the presidential election to hear what the new administration wants." The Tusk government's conciliatory style seems to reflect a change in Polish society.
A poll by Warsaw's influential Institute for Public Affairs (ISP) suggests that support has evaporated for Jaroslaw Kaczynski's aggressive style typified by the war on a supposedly corrupt business and media elite. The ISP survey suggests that, for most Poles, the Kaczynski cure for corruption - a highly politicised anti-corruption bureau - was worse than the illness.
"Support in society for punitive and repressive policy is diminishing," said Lena Kolarska-Bobinska of the Institute for Public Affairs in Warsaw. "Two years ago much more people said the authorities should be able to punish even if they violate civil rights. Now more people say you should punish people but remain within the law. Jaroslaw Kacyznski's contribution to Polish society is clear: drastically diminished support for an authoritarian regime."
The Tusk administration has fired the controversial chief of the anti-corruption bureau and will investigate his methods.
"This new government is more open to best anti-corruption practices from other countries," said Grazyna Kopinska, director of the anti-corruption programme of the Batory Foundation. "The practices of the anti-corruption police, which looked like illegal violation of human rights, will not be repeated and that's a very good thing."
