Bavarian guests, among whom there were 15 deputies of the chairman of the Christian-Social Party (CSU), the deputy of the Polish General Consul in Munich Andrzej Osiak and the interpreter Jarosław Sobczak, visited the Headquarters of the Multinational Corps Northeast in Szczecin. After having visited Warsaw and Gdansk, they came to Szczecin for two days before setting off to Bavaria.
The main purpose of the visit was to create a positive image of Poland through presenting it as an important element of European security structure. The Bavarian politicians wanted, on the one hand, to learn more about Poland as well as to get to know Polish people better. On the other hand, they wished to invite their conversation partners to Bavaria in order to "shape future relationships with Polish colleagues".
The main motivation and goal of the visit to the HQ MNC NE was for the CSU deputies to get a general idea of the military competence of the HQ’s soldiers, in particular of the German soldiers. Moreover, through their visit they wanted to "signal [the German] soldiers that the Parliament supports them and is aware of how important their role and work is" and to encourage them to carry on their work.
"We would like to make people aware of the fact that the cooperation between all the nations in MNC NE works very well" - said the leader of the Bavarian delegation and added that it would please every politician to see that the money he had invested had been invested properly.
Mr. Gabsteiger admitted that the expectations of the group had not been very high in order to avoid possible disappointment. However, they were highly content with their visit in Poland: - "Our expectations have been more than fulfilled". The leader of the delegation confessed that the group’s impressions of the trip had been outstanding: "Poland obviously develops rapidly in a positive direction. Germans can only dream about such a great economic growth".
As far as the influence of these positive impressions on the work of the Bavarian parliamentarians is concerned, they promise to support Poland as much as possible. The CSU politicians are going to arrange meetings with the Polish General Consulate in Munich, who would like to bring Poland home to Bavarians. Moreover, they will carry out talks about the situation in Poland with their Party colleagues as well as with representatives of the Bavarian Parliament and share their positive impressions with them. "I am very grateful to the General Consulate in Munich as well as to the Foreign Ministry in Poland for having enabled us to obtain such an immense amount of information and to make experience in three of the major Polish cities".
Asked about what he was going to tell others back in Bavaria, Mr. Gabsteiger confessed he would encourage them to visit Poland, which "is a wonderful country with future".
