The signing by President Aleksander Kwaśniewski of the treaty on Poland's accession to the European Union.
The Republic of Poland is a Central European country and member of the European Union and NATO, among others. Poland wields considerable influence in Central and Eastern Europe and is a middle power in international affairs. The foreign policy of Poland is based on four basic commitments: to Atlantic co-operation, to European integration, to international development and to international law.
The Polish economy is fairly open and relies strongly on international trade. Since the collapse of communism and its re-establishment as a democratic nation, Poland has extended its responsibilities and position in European and Western affairs, supporting and establishing friendly foreign relations with both the West and with numerous European countries.
After regaining independence in 1989, Poland has ahead on its economic reintegration with the Western world. Poland also has been an active nation in advocating European integration.
In 1994, Poland became an associate member of the European Union (EU) and its defensive arm, the Western European Union (WEU). In 1996, Poland achieved full OECD membership and submitted preliminary documentation for full EU membership.
Poland formally joined the European Union in May 2004, along with the other members of the Visegrád Group.
European Union membership
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In 1997, Poland was invited in the first wave of NATO enlargement at the July 1997 NATO Madrid summit. In March 1999, Poland became a full member of NATO. Poland promoted its NATO candidacy through energetic participation in the Partnership for Peace (PfP) program and through intensified individual dialogue with NATO.
A tighter security alliance with the United States was announced in the middle of the Georgian crisis as an agreement between the two countries was reached to allow the US to install and operate an interceptor missile defense shield, a move which Russia sees explicitly targeting it and which it stated made Poland "a legit military target". A high-ranking Russian military official said: "Poland in deploying [the US system] opens itself to a nuclear strike".
Poland broke off relations with Israel after the Six-Day War of 1967, following most other countries of the Soviet Union controlled Eastern Bloc. Poland was the first Eastern bloc country to recognize Israel again in 1986. Full diplomatic relations have been reestablished in 1990, after the communist People's Republic of Poland was transformed into modern, democratic Poland. Government relations between Poland and Israel are steadily improving, resulting in the mutual visits of presidents and the ministers of foreign affairs.
Poland is an EUmember and Turkey is an EUcandidate. Poland supports Turkey's accession negotiations to the EU, although negotiations have now been suspended.
During the Cold War, communist Poland had good relations with East Germany, but had strained relations with West Germany. After the fall of communism, Poland and the reunited Germany have had a mostly positive but occasionally strained relationship due to some political issues. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Germany has been a proponent of Poland's participation in NATO and the European Union.
Both countries share a common border of 467 kilometres (290 miles).
Germany has an embassy in Warsaw and consulates-general in Gdańsk, Kraków, Opole and Wrocław.
Relations between the two states date back from the Middle Ages. For a long time, they enjoy traditional close friendship.
Hungary has an embassy in Warsaw, a consulate-general in Kraków, a vice-consulate in Wrocław, and 4 honorary consulates (in Łódź, Poznań, Bydgoszcz and Szczecin).
The fall of communism in the years of 1989-1991 led to a formal reestablishment of relations by the Polish and Lithuanian states. Poland was highly supportive of the Lithuanian independence, and became one of the first countries to recognize independent Lithuania. Despite that, there was a relative crisis in the early 1990s, due to Lithuanian mistreatment of Polish minority, and Lithuanian suspicious that Poland would want to put Lithuania under its sphere of influence. After a few years, as the situation normalized, Polish-Lithuanian relations have been steadily improving over the past two decades, with both countries joining the NATO and European Union.
Lithuania has an embassy in Warsaw and consulate general in Sejny.
Poland has an embassy in Vilnius and an honorary consulate in Klaipėda.
There are around 250,000 Poles living in Lithuania and around 25,000 ethnic Lithuanians living in Poland. Both countries are full members of the Council of the Baltic Sea States. Both countries share a common border of 103 kilometres (64 miles).
In recent years, relations with Russia have worsened considerably. During the Russo-Georgian War Poland stated its support for Georgia and condemned Russia's actions. The Polish believed the war was carried out by the Russians in an attempt to reestablish and reassert its dominance over its former republics.
Since 2009, however, relations with Russia somewhat improved, despite the Smolensk air disaster where the former Polish president died on what is still considered a controversial event. After the annexation of Crimea by Russia the relations deteriorated again, as Poland strongly condemned Russian actions against Ukraine.
Both countries share a border of about 529 kilometres (329 miles). Poland's acceptance of the Schengen Agreement created problems with the Ukrainian border traffic. On July 1, 2009 an agreement on local border traffic between the two country's came into effect. This agreement enables Ukrainian citizens living in border regions to cross the Polish frontier according to a liberalized procedure.
During the Cold War Poland retained a largely negative view of Britain as a sluggish ally of Poland during World War II, later acceptance of neglecting Poland in the international arena and placing it in communist influences. In communist times the UK was a part of the NATO block, so consequently it was considered by the communists as natural enemy of the communist bloc. British efforts meanwhile were focussed at trying to break Poland off from the Warsaw Pact and encouraging reforms in the country.
In the 1990s and 2000s democratic Poland has maintained close relations with Britain; both in defence matters and within the EU; Britain being one of only a few countries allowing equal rights to Polish workers upon their accession in 2004.
↑Klimek, Antonín; Kubů, Eduard (1995). Československá zahraniční politika 1918-1938: kapitoly z dějin mezinárodních vztahů (in Czech). Vol.3. Institut pro středoevropskou kulturu a politiku. p.97.
↑"Lithuania". www.msz.gov.pl. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
12Stephen R. Burant and Voytek Zubek, Eastern Europe's Old Memories and New Realities: Resurrecting the Polish-Lithuanian Union, East European Politics and Societies 1993; 7; 370, onlineArchived 2020-10-24 at the Wayback Machine
↑100 years of diplomatic relations between Luxembourg and Poland from A to Z/100 lat stosunków dyplomatycznych między Luksemburgiem i Polską od A do Z (in English and Polish). Embassy of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in Warsaw. 2021. ISBN978-99959-0-628-3.
↑"Andorra". www.msz.gov.pl. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
↑"Monaco". www.msz.gov.pl. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
↑Trade, corporateName= Department of Foreign Affairs and. "Australian Embassy in". australia.pl. Archived from the original on 18 March 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
↑Trade, New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and. "New Zealand Embassy". New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
Gerson Louis L. Woodrow Wilson and the Rebirth of Poland 1914-1920 (1972)
Hetherington, Peter. Unvanquished: Joseph Pilsudski, Resurrected Poland, and the Struggle for Eastern Europe (2012) 752pp excerpt and text search
Kenney, Padraic. "After the Blank Spots Are Filled: Recent Perspectives on Modern Poland," Journal of Modern History (2007) 79#1 pp 134–61, in JSTOR historiography
Klatt, Malgorzata. "Poland and its Eastern neighbours: Foreign policy principles." Journal of Contemporary European Research 7.1 (2011): 61-76. online
Korbel, Josef. Poland Between East and West: Soviet and German Diplomacy toward Poland, 1919–1933 (Princeton University Press, 1963)
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