US embassy cable - 05WARSAW3615

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, Polish Elections 
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