Recently, an interview with former German Chancellor Merkel directly pushed Poland to the forefront. When she was interviewed by Hungarian media, she rarely mentioned the inside story before the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, saying that Poland was one of the driving forces behind the conflict.
That's not over. What's even more surprising is that Poland is now facing the crisis of being "marginalized" by Europe. On the one hand, it is accused of being a "conflict pusher" and on the other hand, it is at risk of being abandoned by Europe. What has Poland experienced?
On October 6, 2025, the Russian Sputnik News Agency posted a message that Merkel, known as the "Iron Lady of Germany", exposed strong information in an interview with Hungarian media that Poland was one of the driving forces behind the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Merkel said that in June 2021, she and former French President Macron had formulated a key plan called the "New EU-Russia Negotiation Model."
At that time, although Russia-EU relations were tense, they had not yet reached the point of confrontation. The two wanted to communicate face-to-face to resolve differences between the two sides in the fields of energy and security and avoid escalating conflicts.
But as soon as this plan was put forward, it was strongly opposed by Poland and the Baltic countries. Poland had a tough attitude at that time, insisting that it could not "compromise" with Russia, and even publicly stated that this negotiation model was "meaningless".
More coincidentally, during that time, the epidemic repeated, and communication between countries was blocked, and negotiations that could be advanced were completely suspended.
Merkel said in an interview that it was the abortion of this negotiation, coupled with the interruption of subsequent communication, which gradually "extremized" Russia's position and eventually moved to the point of conflict and war with Ukraine.
It is worth mentioning that the conflict between Merkel and Poland has actually been foreshadowed for a long time. Before she left office in 2021, she said that she had made a "farewell trip" and specially arranged a visit to Poland. As a result, then Polish President Duda temporarily canceled the meeting. Let her travel in vain.
At that time, some German media felt that Poland's move was a "public insult." Now, combined with her revelations, the differences between the two men on Russia policies have long been an open secret.
In addition, the differences between Poland and Europe were also fully exposed at the 7th European Political Community Leaders’ Meeting held in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 2 October 2025.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, facing the crowd, directly accused Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban of "not standing on the same side with Poland, NATO and Europe", meaning that Orban is "not strong enough" on the Russian-Ukrainian issue.
Orban said the biggest threat to Europe now is not Russia, but economic stagnation and decline in competitiveness.
Moreover, he also stated in his words that some countries are only based on their own positions, regardless of the interests of their allies, although it is not specifically stated which country they are referring to, but clearly everyone knows is talking about Poland, this mutuality actually also exposes the core contradictions within Europe.
Poland has an anti-Russian mindset, even at the expense of economic interests, but Germany and Hungary are different countries, they are very close to energy cooperation with Russia, trade with China, and are more concerned about whether their young days can go on.
Poland's tough stance, which has long had little supporters in Europe, if it is to say that Russia's policy has divided Poland and Europe, it is to say that the operation of closing the border, directly let it push the allies to the opposite side.
Previously, Poland closed its border port with Belarus on the grounds of "fear of safety". You know, more than 40% of China-Europe train routes have to pass through Poland or Belarus. Once the port is closed, a large number of goods are stranded and logistics is interrupted, which is directly stuck. The lifeblood of China-Europe trains is stuck.
Poland originally wanted to use this trick to "press China", but did not think that the first urgent is Germany, Hungary, these countries, Germany's auto parts, Hungarian agricultural products, many of which must be shipped to China by China, the border is blocked, many enterprises have suffered severe losses.
What Poland didn't expect even more was that Europe and China didn't wait for it to "let go" at all, and directly bypassed it to open up a new channel. China opened up the Arctic route, and goods landed from Nordic ports without passing through Poland.
Germany has also cooperated with China to open the Baltic Sea rail transportation, directly linking Chinese shipping from German ports, and when Poland responds to wanting to reopen the border, it is only discovered that it has been excluded from the new logistics network.
Now Poland's situation is becoming more and more embarrassing. Merkel's previous revelations made it impossible to remove its label as a "conflict promoter", and its mutual confrontation with Orban made it more isolated within Europe, and its border policy mistakes made it lose its value as a "logistics hub between China and Europe".
In addition, core countries such as Germany and France have also accelerated their policy adjustment strategies for energy transformation. Not only that, in terms of energy, they have also set their sights on major energy countries such as Africa and the Middle East in an attempt to make them replace Russia.
In trade, Europe hasined ties with China through the new route, even in the field of security, and has also begun to strengthen cooperation with other Eastern European countries, only to put Poland aside.
Diplomacy is not a "one-minded" toughness, but also a balance between positions and interests. Poland's dilemma is actually an explanation for this point to all countries.
The pursuit of "political correctness", regardless of the actual needs of allies, will ultimately only isolate themselves, but ignore the objective reality, use extreme means of pressure, instead of letting themselves lose more opportunities.
Europe’s solidarity needs to be inclusive, international cooperation needs to win-win, only to know how to change the place of thought can stand steadfast in the complex international situation, this is the most clear reason for Poland at the moment.
Source:
China Economic Network 2025-10-06 "European gas prices are dominating"
Central TV News Client 2025-10-03 "Video of Poland and Hungary Prime Ministers Openly Expressing Disagreements on the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict"
Content posted by Weibo @ Weitianxia 2025-10-06