Isolated in EU, Poland seeks better ties with Germany behind the scenes

FILE PHOTO: Poland's Prime Minister Beata Szydlo greets German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Warsaw, Poland February 7, 2017. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel/File Photo

WARSAW(Reuters) - When two dark cars drove up to the retreat of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in a baroque castle on a sunny afternoon last July, only a handful of people knew they were bringing Poland's top politician, Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

So awkward are relations with Berlin for the rightwing Polish leader that the public was not told of the meeting for seven months. Kaczynski finally revealed it in February, saying only that it had been "very secretive".