German FM Baerbock and Polish counterpart Sikorski discuss stronger ties and WWII losses in Berlin

(30 Jan 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Berlin, Germany - 30 January 2024
1. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock receiving Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski outside German Foreign Ministry in Berlin
2. Baerbock and Sikorski arriving at podium for newser
3. SOUNDBITE (German) Annalena Baerbock, German Foreign Minister:
"A strong Europe, whose centre will continue to move eastwards in the coming years, needs a lively German-Polish friendship more than ever, deep trust between Warsaw and Berlin. I am delighted that we are now seizing the opportunity to play closer, better and at the same pace together. Twenty years after the eastward enlargement, a strong Europe is setting the course to fulfil the promise made to the people of Ukraine, Moldova and the Western Balkans."
4. Baerbock and Sikorski
5. SOUNDBITE (Polish) Radosław Sikorski, Polish Foreign Minister:
"We hope to restore trust in contacts at all political levels. We are returning to a regular dynamic of meetings. We hope that intergovernmental consultations can finally take place again. We are thinking about the future, although we know that historical issues will continue to play an important role in our relations with Germany for a long time to come."
6. Polish, EU and German flags
7. Photographer
8. SOUNDBITE (Polish) Radosław Sikorski, Polish Foreign Minister:
"I will also ask the minister (to make) the German government think in a creative way about finding a form of compensation for these (WW II) war losses or of satisfaction."
9. Baerbock and Sikorski
10. SOUNDBITE (German) Annalena Baerbock, German Foreign Minister:
"The joint police cooperation between Germany and Poland in the border region of the Oder River is one that is also exemplary for other border regions and I think we have both emphasised the need to further develop this together, which is important to us, and to always look at the special responsibility we have as Germans towards the past and history. That is also extremely important to me. My Polish colleague has just made it clear that we should also think about creative solutions. That's exactly what we want to do together now."
11. Baerbock and Sikorski shaking hands, leaving
STORYLINE:
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday received her Polish counterpart Radosław Sikorski for his inaugural visit to the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin.
The diplomats discussed the German-Polish cooperation as well as current European and foreign policy issues.
The foreign minister in Poland's new pro-European Union government said he would like Germany's leaders to think in a “creative” way about compensating Poland for huge losses it suffered from German hands during World War II.
His words echoed, in a greatly toned down way, the demands that Poland's previous right-wing government directed to Berlin in 2022, demanding some $1.3 trillion in reparations for Nazis Germany’ World War II invasion and occupation of Poland in 1939-45. Berlin considers the issue closed.
“I will also ask the minister (to make) the German government think in a creative way about finding a form of compensation for these war losses or of satisfaction,” Sikorski said when talking about a project in Berlin that is to memorialize Poland's suffering.
He did not specify the form or the scope of such compensation.
AP Video shot by Axel Gerke
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