US State Department: US-Polish security relations have not been suspended

The US State Department denied media reports that the US-Polish relations have been suspended following the implementation, among others, the controversial Holocaust law. “The reports that allege any kind of a suspension in security cooperation or high-level dialogue, all of that is simply false,” said US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert. “That does not mean that we don’t have disagreements about the legislation that has taken effect,” she added and said that no high-level bilateral meetings are planned for now On Tuesday, news portal Onet.pl said that Polish leaders, including President Andrzej Duda and PM Mateusz Morawiecki will not be allowed to meet with President Donald Trump or Vice-President Mike Pence until the controversial Holocaust law was repealed. In response to Nauert words, the website journalist said that they never said that the relations have been suspended, but that it’s one of the possibilities if the said law is not repealed. They also published details of the memo in which one of the foreign ministry advisor Jan Parys is saying- “Due to the importance of our relations with the US, regarding our security, it is unacceptable if the president or prime minister has lost access to our main ally. In my opinion, settling a dispute with the US is more important than a dispute with Israel or talks with the European Commission on the rule of law.” The journalists said they can’t publish the whole memo as they have to protect their sources. They did provide the memo’s number - Z-99/2018 and asked the foreign ministry to release it to the public. The new law which sparked protests from both the US and Israel, according to its proponents, is to prevent people for accusing the Polish nation “against the facts of being responsible or complicit in the Nazi crimes committed by the Third German Reich.” But critics say the legislation could hinder debating history, thus harming freedom of expression and opening the way to Holocaust denial.