Germany’s Pistorius to sign defence agreement with Poland

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius plans to travel to Warsaw on Wednesday to sign a defence agreement with NATO ally Poland.

According to the German government, the agreement emphasizes both countries’ integration into NATO and the EU and reaffirms their commitment to mutual assistance.

Poland and Germany also intend to cooperate more closely on the development of military capabilities and within the defence industry. Joint exercises are planned as well.

The German government official responsible for ties with Poland, Knut Abraham, said the deal was “a very important sign of increasingly close cooperation in the military sphere, but also in security policy more broadly.”

He told German public radio station Deutschlandfunk that the agreement would underscore the mutual assistance obligations that both countries have entered into through the NATO alliance and the European Union.

Abraham said that German-Polish relations remain strongly shaped by the German occupation during World War II. “Even though tremendous progress has been made in recent decades, it is history that makes this relationship unique,” the conservative politician said in an interview on public broadcaster ARD.

The signing in Warsaw coincides with the 35th anniversary of the 1991 German-Polish Neighbourhood Treaty.

Discussions on the state of political ties and further development of them are scheduled to take place in Berlin at the same time. Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul and his Polish counterpart Radosław Sikorski are taking part in the German-Polish Forum in Berlin.