After agreeing to the installation of an American missile shield on their territories, Poland and the Czech Republic are a bit jittery watching the Obama Administration ‘reset’ relations with the Kremlin. And after Moscow’s attack on Georgia last year and the setting aside of NATO membership for Georgia and Ukraine, the rest of East Europe is similarly affected. Which is why last week, 22 of East Europe’s most prominent present and past leaders wrote a 3200-word open letter to President Obama, warning that some of America’s staunchest allies feel like they’re being ignored if not forgotten.
Explaining why East European leaders felt that they had to reach out to President Obama in such a public fashion is Polish Foreign Minister Adam D. Rotfeld, who tells Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza that the countries of East Europe don’t mind Russia-U.S. talks on the missile shield, as long as they are fully consulted and taken into account.
In this interview with the Gazeta Wyborcza, Foreign Minister Rotfeld warns President Obama that East European enthusiasm for NATO is waning – and negotiating with Russia without consulting them is making NATO membership harder to justify to their people.
“We aren’t against renegotiating the agreement on the installation of the anti-missile shield. They [the U.S.] can even include the Russians, but they must have regard for Poland and its other partners. Nothing that involves us should be done without us.
“I think if such a global system were to be created, it would be best to include Russia. But there’s the matter of additional commitments on the part of the U.S. – the installation in Poland of Patriot missile batteries. We all know it has no true military significance, but there is a symbolic significance. We know it – and the Americans and Russians know it. But the more symbolic such a commitment is, the more one needs to comply with it.”
Interview with Foreign Minister Adam D. Rotfeld
Conducted By Pawe? Wro?ski
Translated By Halszka Czarnocka
July 17, 2009
Poland – Gazeta Wyborcza – Original Article (Polish)
GAZETA WYBORCZA: You authored a study that became the basis for an appeal of distinguished European politicians to President Barack Obama. Last Thursday it was presented at a conference in Washington. Are relations between Central and Eastern Europe and the U.S. so poor that we need to appeal for their improvement?
Polish Foreign Minister Adam D. Rotfeld: First of all, I am just one of six authors from nations in Central Eastern Europe. A few months ago, we decided to focus on the relationship between our part of Europe and the United States. In early July, the idea emerged to rework our report into a letter to be presented to President Barack Obama. It is not about making an appeal, but about signaling certain problems.
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