Germany offers to extend Patriot missile deployment to Poland

Germany has offered to extend the deployment of three Patriot air defence systems to Poland until the end of 2023, bowing to a demand from Warsaw at a time of tense relations between the two countries.

Berlin delivered the missile batteries to Poland in January as part of a broader effort by NATO to strengthen its eastern flank in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Financial Times reports.

Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak asked his German counterpart Boris Pistorius in July to extend the deployment, which was originally planned to last until June, pushing for the Patriot systems to remain on Polish soil “at least until the end of this year”.

Announcing the extension, Pistorius said the decision showed that Germany was “taking into account the security needs of our Polish friends”.

He added: “We will continue to be at your side as a reliable partner.”

The German defence ministry stressed, however, that Berlin could not offer to extend its deployment beyond the end of this year, saying the Patriot systems would be needed as part of the country’s commitments to NATO in 2024.

Germany also deployed two Patriot missile units to Slovakia shortly after the Ukraine invasion, and in June promised to establish a permanent presence of around 4,000 troops in Lithuania. The commitment from Germany to Poland, which dispatched more troops on August 8 to its border with Belarus after Minsk started military exercises nearby, comes at a fraught moment for relations between the two neighbours.

 Tensions have been exacerbated by forthcoming elections in Poland in October as well as disagreements on how best to respond to the war. Last month, Germany abandoned a plan to create a joint maintenance hub for repairing Leopard 2 tanks in Poland after months of wrangling and disagreements over costs.

More broadly, officials in Berlin have been dismayed by what they see as anti-German rhetoric from Warsaw’s populist rightwing government — including a decision last year to file a claim against Germany for €1.3 trillion in reparations for damages and losses inflicted by the Nazis during the second world war.

Warsaw has also accused Germany of leading an EU drive against its government, from both Berlin and Brussels.

On August 8, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki invited Manfred Weber, the German MEP who is leader of the European People’s party, to join him in a televised debate to defend his weekend comments on Poland’s ruling party, Law and Justice.

In an interview with German public television ZDF, Weber linked Poland’s governing party to the anti-democratic forces in Europe that “will be fought against”.

Although Weber is a member of Germany’s Christian Social Union (CSU), which is not part of the government in Berlin, Morawiecki said his criticism marked an attempt by German politicians to interfere in Poland’s elections and that “Poland does not need lessons in democracy”.