Polish government: Nawrocki deliberately tried to disrupt Ukraine Recovery Conference

The Polish government is convinced that President Karol Nawrocki deliberately revoked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's highest Polish award — the Order of the White Eagle — a week before the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdansk. This information was published by portal Onet, citing government sources, and republished by European Pravda.

According to an official from Prime Minister Donald Tusk's office, Nawrocki wanted to provoke tension in relations with Ukrainians and cause Zelenskyy to cancel his visit to the conference. Therefore, the decision to revoke the order was announced ahead of time.

The conference is scheduled for June 25-26 and has been in preparation for months. It is expected to be attended by several heads of state and government, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, European Council President António Costa, and Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. The Polish government notes that such high-level representation is politically disadvantageous for Nawrocki because it contradicts his claims that Tusk is ignored by EU countries and has no influence on Ukraine's future.

Earlier that week, the Civic Coalition had been dealing with a scandal at the Southern Hospital in Warsaw. On Friday evening, after two weeks of delay, Nawrocki suddenly announced the revocation of Zelenskyy's order, which overshadowed the hospital scandal. As a representative of Tusk's office noted, from a right-wing political perspective, this move was illogical.

The representative also pointed out that Law and Justice (PiS) and Nawrocki have a problem because they failed to block Poland's participation in the EU's SAFE arms financing program. They consider this a defeat, as the government could politically benefit from SAFE. Nawrocki and Jarosław Kaczyński want the Gdansk conference to fail because they fear agreements on Poland's involvement in Ukraine's reconstruction could be signed there, which would again benefit Tusk.

Earlier, Marcin Przydacz, head of the International Policy Bureau of the Polish President, stated that Nawrocki had not been invited to the conference. Government spokesman Adam Szłapka expressed surprise at the discussion about the lack of an invitation, emphasizing that the conference is taking place at the government level.