Nawrocki ties history to present: analyst on future of Ukraine-Poland relations

Olha Popovych, political commentator and chief editor of the popular science annual Ukrainian Almanac, stated this on Espreso TV.

“He did not mention Ukraine even once in his 25-minute speech as president. There’s no need to worry about that. Karol Nawrocki spoke about security in Poland, about cooperation with the United States. He emphasized these points, which was expected, since the United States, represented by President Trump, supported Karol Nawrocki in these elections and welcomed his victory. So, in principle, the lack of mention of Ukraine is not a cause for concern for us,” she said.

Popovych believes that Ukraine should be concerned about something else.

“The concern should be that with Karol Nawrocki—and I think this is proven by both his campaign speeches and his speeches as president-elect, when he did mention Ukraine—our relations with President Nawrocki will not be simple, they will be difficult, because President Nawrocki is the president of Poland’s right-wing electorate, which is focused on historical issues. Historical issues absolutely divide Poland and Ukraine, and this is the cornerstone that, as we see, causes the most problems and disagreements between us,” the political commentator noted.

She added that this is a topic that Russia uses very effectively in its war against Ukraine and against support for Ukraine in general.

“This should worry us, because Karol Nawrocki links history with the present. Karol Nawrocki, as a historian by education and former head of the Institute of National Remembrance of Poland, will pay attention to this and will focus on it. In his speech, Karol Nawrocki mentioned several historical figures of Poland, key figures in the history of Polish independence. And it is concerning for us that he also emphasized, starting his speech by quoting famous Polish political figures, including Roman Dmowski. For Ukraine, Dmowski is a completely negative figure in the history of Polish-Ukrainian relations,” Popovych emphasized.

She also commented on what to expect for Poland.

“Poland also should not expect, I would say, a positive development in political life. Why? Because today, when Karol Nawrocki delivered his speech, he did so quite aggressively. In the sense that Karol Nawrocki clearly showed in his speech, emphasizing that he will have confrontations with the government, and despite populist slogans, nice slogans about being a president who unites Poles, who stands above political divisions, it is clear—and it sounded in his speech—that this is not really the case,” the political commentator notes.

Popovych believes that Nawrocki will act much more harshly in confrontation than the previous president, Andrzej Duda.

“And accordingly, this is not to Poland’s benefit. And the fact that this is now not to the benefit of Poland’s democratic processes in general, and to Poland as the largest western neighbor of Ukraine, is also negative for us, because any tensions, any conflicts in Poland’s political sphere will also affect Polish-Ukrainian relations and Ukraine’s ability to have a good ally—one whose political situation is more or less calm and who does not have this ‘Polish-Polish war’ that is ongoing and, as it seems under Karol Nawrocki, unfortunately, will continue,” she concluded.

• After 100% of the votes were counted, Karol Nawrocki became the winner of the second round of the Polish presidential election. The gap between him and Rafał Trzaskowski was less than 2%. The current Polish leader, Andrzej Duda, congratulated his successor.

• On June 12, the Supreme Court of Poland allowed a recount of votes in some precincts amid allegations of commission violations.

• On July 1, the Supreme Court recognized Nawrocki’s victory in the presidential election.

• On Wednesday, August 6, Karol Nawrocki took the oath of office as President of Poland and delivered a speech outlining his plans in office.