Jo Harper
20 April 2026•Update: 20 April 2026
French President Emmanuel Macron is meeting Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Gdansk on Monday, but will not hold talks with President Karol Nawrocki, in a move that has exposed the increasingly bitter rivalry between Poland’s two centers of power, Polsat News reported.
According to the presidential palace, aides to Nawrocki sought a meeting with the French leader during his one-day visit to Poland. However, presidential spokesman Grzegorz Urbanek said Tusk’s office pushed for Macron’s trip to take place in Gdansk rather than Warsaw, effectively making a meeting with Nawrocki impossible.
“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,” Urbanek said.
Macron is due to take part in the first Polish-French intergovernmental summit, held in Gdansk to mark the Day of Polish-French Friendship and the first anniversary of the Nancy treaty signed by Tusk and Macron in May 2025, Polsat News reported, citing Poland’s government information center.
The treaty committed both countries to closer cooperation on defense, energy and foreign policy, including mutual security guarantees in the event of an attack. Talks in Gdansk are expected to focus on French proposals for a European nuclear deterrent, military cooperation and possible French involvement in Poland’s second nuclear power plant.
The decision not to include Nawrocki is politically sensitive because the Polish president traditionally represents the country alongside the government in foreign affairs, particularly on defense issues.
Officials in the presidential palace argued that Macron’s failure to meet Nawrocki was particularly striking given the subjects under discussion.
“The issues are serious. There is the nuclear question. There is a lot to discuss. An official visit by the French president without meeting our president raises doubts,” Urbanek said.
The absence of a meeting also comes only days after Nawrocki visited Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest, a trip sharply criticized by Tusk’s government because of Orban’s close ties to Moscow. Commentators suggested the Budapest visit may also have cooled French enthusiasm for meeting the Polish president.
The episode is the latest chapter in an increasingly open struggle between Tusk and Nawrocki over who speaks for Poland abroad. Since Nawrocki took office last year, his presidency has frequently clashed with Tusk’s government over foreign representation, creating what Polish commentators have dubbed a “war for the seat” at international meetings.
