Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło has clashed with Macron | Philippe Wojazer/AFP via Getty Images Polish PM’s French charm offensive After a canceled defense deal had threatened to torpedo Franco-Polish relations, their leaders patch things up.

WARSAW — Poland’s Beata Szydło and France's Emmanuel Macron attempted to bury the hatchet in a meeting in Paris on Thursday amid talk of a new Polish deal for French submarines.

The French president has been a vocal critic of Szydło's ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) and the pair have clashed publicly over his criticisms of Warsaw's reforms of the judiciary, which have also prompted action from the European Commission to attempt to ensure Poland adheres to the EU's democratic norms.

But, as they posed together outside the Élysée Palace, the leaders were the picture of Franco-Polish camaraderie — a far cry from the threats, put-downs and insults hurled between Warsaw and Paris over the past year.

“Poland and France are countries that appreciate democracy, freedom, justice, solidarity and sovereignty,” said Szydło at a joint news conference after their tête-à-tête.

Macron was in a conciliatory mood, too. At the press conference, he noted his “preoccupation” with the changes to the judiciary in Poland being carried out by PiS, but did not press the point. France would leave the matter to the Commission, he said.

Relations soured in autumn last year when the Polish government broke off plans to buy 50 French-designed Caracal helicopters, leaving their maker, Airbus, and the French government fuming. Then-president François Hollande cancelled a visit to Warsaw, as did Jean-Yves Le Drian, the defense minister at the time.

This prompted an anti-French backlash in Polish government circles. “They are a people who learned to eat with a fork from us a few centuries ago. So maybe this is why they are behaving in this way now,” Poland's Deputy Defense Minister Bartosz Kownacki told a television channel at the time.

Rather than a fresh start for Franco-Polish relations, Macron’s election made matters worse.

By the time he was elected president in May, he had already succeeded in offending the Polish government. In an interview with the French regional press ahead of the second round of voting, he called for EU sanctions on Poland for failing to respect the EU’s “rights and values.”

Then, in his Central European regional tour to discuss posted workers this summer, Macron skipped over Poland. Instead, during his stop in Bulgaria, he accused the Polish government of isolating itself in Europe, adding that the country’s citizens “deserve better.”

Striking back, Szydło accused Macron of arrogance. She suggested it was a “result of a lack of experience,” apparently alluding to his young age.

Pro-government Polish media outlets echoed her disdain. Public broadcaster TVP gloated over polls showing falling support for Macron among French voters. “Is Macron a man?” wondered the cover of Polska Niepodległa, a right-wing weekly, featuring his face attached to a curvy female body.

But in Paris on Thursday, those disputes had long been forgotten, as both leaders focused on similarities rather than differences, from the EU after Brexit to defense cooperation.

They parted amicably, with Macron accepting Szydło’s invitation to attend the 100th anniversary of the restoration of Poland’s independence next year — enough for her to fly back to Warsaw with the visit already being proclaimed the government’s latest international success.