According to the latest Poland- Germany Barometer 2022, Germans’ sympathy for Poland is declining, while Poles’ sympathy for Germany is increasing. The state of bilateral relations is rated increasingly better by Germans and increasingly worse by Poles, reports Deutsche Welle citing research conducted for the daily Die Welt.

In the past two years, there has been a decline in sympathy for Poles in Germany from 55% to 43%. Among Poles, the opposite trend can be observed. Their sympathy for Germans has increased since 2020 from 42% to 50%. However, this is still lower than at the end of the previous decade, when in 2018, 56% of Polish respondents declared their sympathy for Germans.

Dislike of the neighbour from across the Oder has increased slightly in both countries. In Germany from 10 to 14%, in Poland from 13 to 15%.

Despite the increase in sympathy for the Germans, only 48% of Poles assess the state of Polish-German relations well. In the previous survey, that figure was as high as 65%, but never since the start of the survey, which has been conducted for more than 20 years, this rating has fallen below 50%. As far as the Germans are concerned, there has been an increase in satisfaction with mutual relations, from 57% to 62.

The increase in critical assessments of Poles relates to German European policy. 43% of Poles believe that Germany rather contributes to better cooperation in Europe. In 2015, as many as 68% of surveyed people shared this view and then the percentage steadily declined.

26% of Poles believe that Berlin contributes to exacerbating disputes and tensions in Europe. Two years ago, this assessment was shared by only 21% of Poles.

When asked in which areas Poland and Germany should cooperate, Poles indicate cooperation in energy independence (43%) and strengthening the Eastern- European flank of NATO (29%).

Adrian Andrzejewski