Die Welt

The Prime Minister-designate of Poland Donald Tusk has welcomed in principle Germany’s plans for a centre for the documentation of the expulsion and flight of ethnic Germans from eastern Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War. "My government would be in agreement with a proper memorial to the expellees" said. The Centre should be based on "the truth of history". However, he drew a clear line at the demands of the German Expellees’ Federation, saying that the project would be unacceptable if led by its President Erika Steinbach.

Tusk, whose liberal-conservative Civic Platform won the elections of 21 October and is still in the process of forming his government, has stated his intention to improve relations with Germany and build mutual trust between the two countries. He favours a return to the state of relations as they were at the beginning of the 1990s during the premierships of Helmut Kohl and Tadeusz Mazowiecki.

Tusk criticised former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder on account of the disputed Baltic Pipeline which is planned to bring Russian gas to Germany. He said this would be a problem not only for Poland, but also for Germany, as it was badly planned and ought to be substantially altered, and soon.

The new Polish government also plans to improve relations with Russia. Tusk said that the Kaczynski twins had created more tension than was necessary, and it was now time to rebuild trust. Moscow had to accept, however, that Poland was determined to maintain good relations with Ukraine and Georgia.