Germany beat Poland in the final of the world championship in handball in Köln on the weekend. Through a sport played almost exclusively in Europe, the unexpected teams in the final (France, Spain and Croatia were favoured, Denmark won the bronze medal) offered an opportunity to take a look at relations between the historically uneasy neighbours 18 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. for many, the sight was not very satisfying and there was a nervous feeling that the ongoing animosity between the rich German Wessis and the poor Slavic Ossis was indicative of the general difficulty the EU is having in giving the impression of a united entity.
Bundespräsident Köhler and Polish President Lech Kaczynski sat next to each other, even exchanged national shawls, but the photos show two uneasy, even unhappyfaces, and the Polish president was given an unfriendly welcome by the mainly German fans. This could be interpreted as just part of the increasingly unpleasant sporting scene in Europe, but it goes deeper than that. The Poles seem incapable of fogetting what happened 60 years ago; the Germans seem incapable of understanding why the Poles let their contemporary politics with regard to Germany revolve so steadily around that memory. Certainly there are leading figures on both sides who would like nothing better than to get these two large nations to work together and form transnational centres along their boundaries, as has happened in Malmö/Copenhagen. But there is little sign of this, and the bickering and irritations dominate a relationship that seemed very promising not so long ago.