Macron snubs Polish president, meets only PM Tusk in Gdansk

French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Gdansk on Monday for a one-day visit to Poland but will only meet with Prime Minister Donald Tusk, snubbing President Karol Nawrocki and exposing the increasingly bitter rivalry between Poland’s two centers of power, according to Polsat News. The presidential palace said Nawrocki’s aides had sought a meeting with Macron, but Tusk’s office pushed for the visit to take place in Gdansk rather than Warsaw, effectively making a meeting impossible.

Tensions over foreign representation

Presidential spokesman Grzegorz Urbanek stated: “Prime Minister Tusk was very keen on preventing a meeting between the two presidents. That is why he insisted the visit take place in Gdansk, not Warsaw.” The decision is politically sensitive because the Polish president traditionally represents the country alongside the government in foreign affairs, particularly on defense issues. Urbanek added: “The issues are serious. There is the nuclear question. An official visit by the French president without meeting our president raises doubts.”

Nuclear talks and Budapest visit

The Gdansk summit marks the first Polish-French intergovernmental meeting, focused on French proposals for a European nuclear deterrent, military cooperation, and possible French involvement in Poland’s second nuclear power plant. The snub comes days after Nawrocki visited Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest — a trip sharply criticized by Tusk’s government due to Orban’s close ties to Moscow. Commentators suggest the Budapest visit may have cooled French enthusiasm for meeting Nawrocki, deepening what Polish media call a “war for the seat” at international meetings.