Foreign relations of Poland
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The Republic of Poland is a Central European country and member of the European Union and NATO, among others. In recent years, 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.
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[edit] Integration with the West and Europe
Recently, Poland has forged ahead on its economic reintegration with the Western world.[citation needed] 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. In 1997, Poland was invited in the first wave of NATO policy enlargement at the July 1997 NATO Summit in Madrid, Spain. 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. Poland formally joined the European Union in May 2004, along with the other members of the Visegrád group.
Poland is a part of the multinational force in Iraq.
[edit] Establishing relationships with European countries
Changes since 1989 have redrawn the map of central Europe,[clarify] and Poland has had to forge relationships with seven new neighbors. Poland has actively pursued good relations with all its neighboring countries, signing friendship treaties replacing links severed by the collapse of the Warsaw Pact. The Poles have forged special relationships with Lithuania and particularly Ukraine in an effort to firmly anchor these states to the West.[clarify]
Due to its tragic historical experience with a repeating pattern of disloyal allies and simultaneous aggression of powerful neighbors (e.g., Partitions of Poland, Second World War), Polish foreign policy pursues close cooperation with a strong partner, one apt enough to give strong military support in times of critical situations. This creates the background of Poland's tight relations with the USA and their over-sensitivity in relations towards its main partner within the European Union, Germany. At the same time, the equally burdened attitude towards Russia results in very tense diplomatic relations, which have been constantly worsening since Vladimir Putin's rise to power. This is an important factor for the special attention Poland pays to the political emancipation[clarify] of all its Eastern neighbors: Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine (as well as certain of those countries do to Poland itself).[citation needed]
[edit] Relations involving the 2008 Georgian Crisis
In recent years, relations with Russia have worsened considerably. Poland responded with strong disapproval towards the 2008 Georgian Crisis, in which a military invasion of Georgia was led by Russia. Georgia is a former USSR republic, like Poland, and Poland stated its support for Georgia and condemned Russia's actions. The Polish believed the invasion was carried out by the Russians in an attempt to reestablish and reassert its dominance over its former republics.
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 legitimate military target."[1] A high-ranking Russian military official said, "Poland in deploying [the US system] opens itself to a nuclear strike."[2]
[edit] Relations with Belarus and Ukraine
The authoritarian and anti-Western political course taken by the country of neighboring Belarus presents a huge problem for Polish foreign policy.[citation needed] The Orange Revolution in Ukraine evoked a wide and authentic support within the Polish society.[citation needed]
[edit] Relations with Denmark
Denmark and Poland have still not agreed on the formal establishment of the maritime border between the two countries. Denmark supports a border half-way between the two countries, but Poland wants to be awarded an even greater share of the Baltic Sea, since Poland has a much longer coastline than the Danish island of Bornholm. The issue has gained significance alongside Russia's plans to build the controversial Nord Stream natural gas pipeline through the disputed area.
[edit] See also
- Diplomatic missions of Poland
- List of diplomatic missions in Poland
- Polish involvement in the 2003 invasion of Iraq
- Canadian-Polish relations
[edit] References
- ^ "Rice to visit Poland to sign missile shield deal", AFP (August 18, 2008). Retrieved on 18 August 2008.
- ^ Bhadrakumar, M.K. (August 18, 2008). "China seeks Caucasian crisis windfall", Asia Times Online. Retrieved on 18 August 2008.
- This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain.
[edit] Further reading
- Fedorowicz, Krzysztof (July 2007). "National Identity and National Interest in Polish Eastern Policy, 1989-2004". Nationalities Papers 35 (3): 537–553.
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