French president postpones visit to Poland amid strained relations
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
08.10.2016 10:15
French President Francois Hollande has postponed a visit to Poland after a decision by Warsaw to cancel a major military helicopter tender with France's Airbus.
Francois Hollande. Photo: Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores Perú/Wikimedia Commons
The Polish government announced earlier this week that it would not be going ahead with the purchase of 50 ‘Eurocopter’ EC725 helicopters for PLN 13.5 billion (EUR 3.2 billion) due to the failure of negotiations over an offset deal.
President Hollande, who is facing a presidential election in April next year, was due to visit Poland on Thursday. French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was expected in Warsaw this Monday but has also cancelled.
According to Reuters, a source on the French side has suggested that France will also re-examine its military cooperation with Poland, saying: “The Franco-Polish bilateral relationship will undeniably be extremely affected by this decision.”
Meanwhile Agence France-Presse cited a source claiming that Airbus will re-examine its investments in Poland. Airbus currently employs 900 people in the country, having pledged in April 2015 to create a total of 3,750 jobs within five years as a result of winning the tender.
No long-term damage to relations?
However, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski was keen to stress that Hollande’s visit has not been permanently cancelled, saying: “Franco-Polish intergovernmental consultations have been postponed (not cancelled) to another date.”
Waszczykowski added that planned talks with his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault would still be going ahead.
Negotiations over an offset deal lasted over a year. According to Waszczykowski the Polish side was open-minded throughout and keen to reach a deal, though due to insurmountable differences in aims between the two sides it proved impossible to reach a compromise.
The Polish side has long stated that it wanted offset deals to be worth around PLN 13.5 billion, the same as the cost of the helicopter purchase itself.
Waszczykowski said that there would be no long-term damage to relations, saying: “We are convinced that ending these negotiations … will not affect our overall cooperation with France. Our bilateral relations have strategic value and are based on a wide range of joint priorities and projects.” (sl/pk)
Source: PAP