Democracy Digest: Eastern Europe Wobbles Between US and EU

Trump-Duda meeting draws a blank

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday hosted a meeting with his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, but the two failed to reach any concrete agreement on an eventual increase in the number of US troops deployed in Poland - an issue that the two countries negotiated for some two years. The hastily announced meeting, which took place just days before the June 28 presidential poll in Poland, led critics to call it an unfair intervention by Trump in the Polish election. However, once the outcome of the meeting was announced in a joint press conference on Wednesday, a debate erupted in Poland over whether the meeting would actually do Duda more harm than good. While Trump at the press conference openly supported Duda's presidential bid, the talks seem to have brought more benefit to the US than Poland. The only information about the troop increase came from Duda, who said that some 1,000 US troops might be sent to Poland, which is what the US had pledged to do some time ago. On the other hand, the two presidents announced the upcoming signing of a deal on building of a nuclear plant in Poland, using US technology, which shocked the Polish public; the announcement came without any serious public debate in Poland over this issue. Additionally, Trump congratulated Poland for committing itself to building its 5G network in a "safe" way, which was widely understood to mean a commitment to limit use of Chinese technology.

Poland braces for tight presidential race

At the start of the election week, the incumbent Duda and his main opponent, Rafal Trzaskowki were polling neck-and-neck in the second and final round of the elections. But polls published on Wednesday for the first time gave...