Polish Foreign Minister Warns U.S. Against Putting Germany First

U.S. President Joe Biden is giving Germany top priority as Washington’s partner in Europe, Polish Foreign Minister, Zbigniew Rau said in a newspaper interview published on Friday.

“Biden equates Europe with Germany,’’ Rau told the newspaper Rzeczpospolita at the G7 summit, which Biden is attending in Britain.

The problem, however, was that Germany had sacrificed the values and security interests of the free world for cooperation with Russia with the controversial Nord Stream Two pipeline, Rau said.

Biden’s government announced at the end of May that it would refrain from imposing sanctions against the company operating Nord Stream Two, in part out of consideration for relations with Berlin.

The undersea pipeline was designed to transport natural gas from major producer country Russia direct to Germany and beyond to the large European market.

Poland’s government has long been opposed to the pipeline.

It feared that it could increase Europe’s dependence on Russian gas supplies and put pressure on the transit countries, which would in the future have less leverage over Moscow.

Rau complained that neither Poland nor neighbouring countries had been included in the U.S. government’s decision.

“The American allies found no time for consultations with the region most affected by the consequences of this decision,’’ he was quoted as saying.

After the G7, Biden is attending the NATO summit in Brussels, where a top-level meeting with EU representatives is scheduled for the following day.

On Wednesday, Biden was scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva.