POLISH PRIME MINISTER CANDIDATE EMPHASIZES DESIRE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 WARSAW 003615

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/12/2015
TAGS: PREL PGOV MASS MARR PL
SUBJECT: POLISH PRIME MINISTER CANDIDATE EMPHASIZES DESIRE
FOR PARTNERSHIP WITH U.S.

Classified By: Ambassador Victor Ashe, for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D)


1. (C) Summary: Ambassador met for about 30 minutes October
14 with Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, Law and Justice's (PiS)
candidate for prime minister. Marcinkiewicz emphasized the
importance PiS and its coalition partner Civic Platform (PO)
attached to the U.S. relationship, raised offsets and
military modernization as top issues, and deferred discussion
of Iraq until after formation of the government. He
described the "two pillars" of Polish foreign policy as good
relations with the U.S. and a strong role for Poland in the
EU, and said Poland must try to have good relations with
Russia, even while actively promoting democracy in the
region. Marcinkiewicz said that, despite the heated
campaign, the negotiations between PiS and PO on government
formation are going ahead smoothly, but gave no specifics on
the make-up of the government. End Summary.


2. (C) Ambassador opened by reiterating President Bush's
suggestion to Polish President Kwasniewski that the incoming
Polish foreign minister and defense minister visit Washington
as soon as possible after the new government is installed,
which Marcinkiewicz agreed was a good idea. Ambassador
emphasized that the U.S.-Polish relationship is a strategic
partnership, and assured Marcinkiewicz that President Bush
values Poland's input on regional issues. Marcinkiewicz
described the two urgent tasks consuming him at the moment.
First, he said he "must" participate in the presidential
campaign of his party leader, Lech Kaczynski (reftel).
Second, he continues to work with coalition partner (and
presidential campaign rival party) PO to form a government as
soon as possible after the October 23 second round of the
presidential election. He said that, despite the heated
campaign, there is "goodwill" on both sides and he fully
expected the government to be formed and in place by the end
of October.


3. (C) Marcinkiewicz noted that both PiS and PO have made
good relations with the U.S. a cornerstone of their foreign
policy, and said that he had asked his "good friend," Radek
Sikorski to pass this message to Washington officials.
Marcinkiewicz said that key issues in the U.S.-Polish
relationship for the new government would be, first, putting
the F-16 Lockheed-Martin offset program "on a faster and more
modern track," and second, continuing the modernization of
Polish armed forces. When Ambassador replied that he thought
the offset program was in much better shape than a year ago,
and that the program was doing well, Marcinkiewicz responded
that it was "going in the right direction," but could be even
better. Regarding modernization, Marcinkiewicz said much had
been accomplished, including the creation of a special forces
unit and a rapid reaction force, but there was still a way to
go. Marcinkiewicz said that Afghanistan and "other issues"
could be discussed after the government was in place.


4. (C) Ambassador said we look forward to working with the
new Minister of Defense on modernization and other issues,
and told Marcinkiewicz that he wanted only to say that good
friends and good allies need to discuss differences privately
and not read about important decisions in the press. We
recognize that with a new government there will be changes,
and we are ready to work on changes beneficial to both. The
Pentagon wants to assist Poland's modernization efforts.
Poland's F-16's will be ready for delivery in a year, and
much is being done to prepare for that. Marcinkiewicz said
he looked forward to early visits to Washington by the
Defense and Foreign Ministers, in order to discuss future
cooperation, but made no further comment on modernization,
Iraq, or military assistance levels.


5. (C) Marcinkiewicz said he wanted Poland to be not only a
strong partner of the U.S. but also an active member of the
EU, calling the U.S. and EU relationships the two "pillars"
of Polish foreign policy. PiS-PO hopes that Poland will be
able to work with Germany's new government to make the EU
more pro-Atlantic. Poland also, he said, needs to maintain
good relations with Russia, but in order to build better
ties, Poland needs to diversify its energy sources.
Cooperation cannot, he said, be good as long as Poland is so
dependent on Russia. Belarus and Ukraine will also continue
to be areas of concern. Poland's interest in Belarus, he
said, is a result not just of its concern about the Polish
minority, but about human rights in general. Ambassador
responded that President Bush has tried to convince Russian
President Putin that having democratic neighbors along its
borders is not a threat, but he did not think Putin was
convinced.


6. (C) Ambassador also thanked Marcinkiewicz for his
personal involvement as chair of the Sejm's Finance
Committee, in the effort to pass a personal property
restitution act to resolve outstanding World War II claims.
He thanked him in particular for the hours he spent meeting
with American Jewish groups to hear their concerns.
Marcinkiewicz said he regretted very much that the bill had
not passed, but made no comment on its prognosis for the
coming year.


7. (C) Comment: Marcinkiewicz avoided difficult subjects,
including expectations of increased military assistance in
return for continued presence in Iraq, or other matters. In
a lunch with DCM the previous day, Marcinkiewicz's foreign
policy advisor, Marek Jurek, was similarly optimistic about
the progress of negotiations on government formation, but
similarly close-mouthed on the potential make-up of the new
government. That government formation talks continue despite
the nastiness of the presidential campaign is a good sign,
and we are confident there will be a government in place, as
Marcinkiewicz predicts, by the end of the month. End Comment.
ASHE