Chancellor Angela Merkel praised the excellent cooperation between Germany and Poland. This cooperation makes it possible to resolve even the thorniest of issues at European level she said at the press conference following the consultations. There is a high level of agreement between the two countries on issues such as climate change mitigation and the European budget.

Angela Merkel and Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz also agreed in their assessment of the conflict in Ukraine. There is currently no reason to ease sanctions on Russia, declared Ewa Kopacz. Angela Merkel added that Germany and Poland aim to help "Ukraine to develop such that people can enjoy greater prosperity and most importantly such that Ukraine can be stabilised again".

The meeting also served to prepare for the Eastern Partnership Summit to be held in May in Riga. While the Chancellor discussed with Poland’s Prime Minister, the Cabinet ministers of the two countries met.

Wide spectrum of issues

"We have very close economic ties, which we want to develop even further," noted Angela Merkel during the press conference. Federal Economic Affairs Minister Sigmar Gabriel stated that the volume of trade between Germany and Poland had expanded more than sixfold since 1995. The two sides would like to continue this trend and are planning to step up cooperation in the field of energy policy. A working group is to be established that will consult regularly on energy-policy matters.

Federal Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt and Poland’s Minister of the Environment Maciej H. Grabowski signed an agreement on joint steps to improve the situation on waterways in the German-Polish border region. The agreement aims to optimise flood discharge facilities along the River Oder and ensure stable conditions for shipping – in particular for the use of the German-Polish icebreaker fleet. At the press conference Angela Merkel praised the fact that, "We enjoy a high level of cooperation along the German-Polish border."

At the meeting with her Polish counterpart, Federal Research Minister Johanna Wanka confirmed that cooperation to date had been excellent and put in place the framework for even better networking among German and Polish research scientists. Johanna Wanka praised cooperation, which embraces a large number of disciplines in the bilateral and European context. "The success of cooperation is demonstrated by more than one thousand partnerships between German and Polish universities and by the excellent networking of major German research institutions with Polish research facilities," she said.

In a statement, the Chancellor also advocated stepping up the work of the German-Polish Youth Office. "Over the last few years it has brought together two million people, and we would of course like to see this pursued with continued vigour and enthusiasm."

Tribute to former Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Bartoszewski

At the opening of the plenary session in Warsaw the Chancellor paid tribute to Wladyslaw Bartoszewski who died last Friday. The former Polish Foreign Minister had the closing word at the bilateral consultations.

"With endless love, untiring commitment and even in his old age" he never turned down an opportunity to visit Germany, said the Chancellor. His goal was always to develop German-Polish friendship. These German-Polish government consultations are in themselves symbolic of what he wished for.

Angela Merkel said that the best way to uphold the memory of Wladyslaw Bartoszewski was to "continue to work with enthusiasm and great energy for German-Polish relations and German-Polish friendship in future". His life’s work should be "an incentive to us in all that we do in future".

To round off the visit, the Polish President Bronisław Komorowski received the Chancellor for a brief exchange of views at his official residence.