Germany vows solidarity with Poland in Belarus border fight

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Germany's new foreign minister voiced solidarity Friday with Poland while also calling for humanitarian treatment of migrants and refugees stuck near the country's border with Belarus as temperatures plummet.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also raised the delicate matter of rule of law under Poland's right-wing government, which has been at odds with the European Union over its attempts to exert control over Polish judges.

Baerbock was sworn in Wednesday as part of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition government. Speaking in Warsaw alongside her Polish counterpart, Zbigniew Rau, she vowed not to take decisions “over the heads of our neighbors or at the expense of others.”

“That’s why we stand here in full responsibility and solidarity by the side of Poland and the Baltic states,” she said. Poland's government and EU officials have accused Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of retaliating against the EU by directing migrants to the 27-nation bloc's eastern borders.

Baerbock said it was important to Germany that asylum-seekers “on both sides of the border” receive humanitarian aid as temperatures plummet.

“This is our common European border, where humanity and order apply,” she said.

Baerbock said she raised the matter of rule of law with Rau, “even if it’s uncomfortable. But that’s what marks strong friendships, facing uncomfortable questions.”

Poland is involved in a bitter dispute with the European Commission, the EU's executive arm. The commission is withholding pandemic recovery funds from Poland over the erosion of judicial independence.

The ongoing dispute was deeply exacerbated after the Polish constitutional tribunal, under the political influence of the governing Law and Justice party, ruled this fall that Polish law has primacy over EU law in key areas.

The government in Warsaw argues that the European Commission's holding back of funds itself a violation of EU law.

Some Poles are afraid that the dispute could put the country on the path to an eventual departure from the EU, so-called Polexit.

Citing opinion polls that show strong support in Poland for EU membership, Baerbock said it would be wrong for Germans to consider themselves as the “better Europeans.”

“I will therefore not issue any public advice,” she said. “But I hope for all our sake, for German-Polish friendship, for our shared Europe, that we find solutions that strengthen Europe. And Poland is an indispensable part of that.”

Baerbock 40, who belongs to Germany's Greens party, and Rau, 66, a member of the right-wing Law and Justice, were cordial, addressing each other by their first names, while Baerbock mentioned that her grandparents came to Germany from Poland more than 60 years ago.

She expressed gratitude for the ties between Germany and Poland in light of “the uncountable Polish victims due to German actions" during World War II. Germany's Nazis occupied Poland during the war and carried out mass atrocities against the population.

Before traveling to Warsaw, Baerbock held meetings in Paris and Brussels during her first foreign trip since taking office.