Kaczyński holds his line

President Lech Kaczyński made it clear last week that he did not see a quick fix to Warsaw's conflict with Berlin over a German-Russian gas pipeline project.

Poland was furious when Germany's previous Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a deal last year to build a pipeline under the Baltic Sea to carry Russian gas to Germany, by-passing Poland, which is heavily reliant on Russian gas and oil.

Reason for suspicion

Kaczyński said he would be discussing the project again with Chancellor Angela Merkel during a meeting of French, German and Polish leaders in Weimar, Germany this week. "We want to talk, but right now what we want is a clear answer why this pipeline will go that way and not through Poland and Lithuania, rather than merely being told that it is a private project," Kaczyński told Reuters. "One may suspect the reason is to bypass Poland and Lithuania so gas wouldn't need to be delivered simultaneously to western Europe and Poland," he added.

In the Polish government's view, the project, led by Russian gas giant Gazprom and two German companies, makes no economic sense but will enable Moscow to blackmail its neighbors without jeopardizing relations with western Europe. It refers to last January, when Russia switched off gas supplies to Ukraine, as an example. Kaczyński said that the diversification of oil and gas supplies is a vital strategy for Poland and no EU agreement with Russia to guarantee supplies could replace it.

Alternative sources

"It is clear that we will cooperate with Russia, but if one asks whether Russia's rich deposits of gas and oil should be our only source of energy, I clearly say: no," Kaczyński said.

The EU's calls for an agreement with Russia that will set energy trading rules will be high on the agenda during a G8 summit in St Petersburg on July 15-17, but no breakthrough is expected. Poland has suggested inviting leaders from Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan to discuss energy security, but Kaczyński said it was not clear whether such a meeting would take place next month, and stressed it should not be seen as competition for the G8 summit.

Good relations

Kaczyński rejected concerns that Warsaw may be being too obstinate in its relations with Russia. He said that following Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga's trip to Moscow last week there were positive signs about the chances of a meeting with Putin. He said the visit would be part of many goodwill gestures Poland has been making towards Russia. "I really want our Western partners to recognize those gestures and understand that good relations need good will on both sides," he said. (Reuters)