Will the Polish Deputy Prime Minister block Ukraine's EU membership?

This week, reports were published in Polish, Ukrainian, and English media claiming that Polish Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said in an interview, "Ukraine cannot join the EU with Bandera." However, this claim is false; the phrase in question was not said by Kosiniak-Kamysz, but by the journalist asking him a question. This article explains what was actually said during the interview and how the misunderstanding arose.

There has been a dispute between Poland and Ukraine since the end of May. Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski named a military unit after the "heroes" of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). While in Ukraine the UPA is remembered for its struggle for independence against the Soviet regime imposed by Moscow, in Poland this unit is associated with the Volhynia massacres, in which around 100,000 ethnic Polish civilians (mostly women and children) were killed.

In response to Zelenski's decision, Polish President Karol Nawrocki stripped Zelenski of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland's highest honor. This led Zelenski to cancel his planned visit to the Ukraine Recovery Conference held in Gdańsk last week. Subsequently, Zelenski announced plans to create a new Ukrainian National Pantheon that would include major historical figures, stating, "No one can dictate to us which heroes to honor."

Zelenski's actions in recent weeks have led many Polish politicians, particularly in the right-wing opposition and some figures in the ruling coalition, to argue that Poland should respond by blocking Ukraine's EU membership process. When responding to a question on this matter during his interview on the Polsat channel on Monday, Kosiniak-Kamysz did not use the phrase "Ukraine cannot join the EU with Bandera," contrary to the claims in the media.

This misunderstanding spread rapidly on social media and led to tensions in Polish-Ukrainian relations. However, the truth emerges when examining the full text of the interview. While Kosiniak-Kamysz emphasized that historical reconciliation and the rejection of controversial figures like Bandera are necessary for Ukraine's EU membership, he did not personally utter the sentence in question. This incident shows how a lack of fact-checking and misquotation in the media can lead to misunderstandings in international relations.