Poland and the Eastern Partnership of the European Union: a sustained commitment

Abstrakt: The aim of this paper is to show Poland’s involvement in the Eastern Partnership initiative. The Eastern Partnership has both its proponents and opponents; and specialists often describe it as “an unknown and brilliant or well-known and unsuccessful project”. Among the countries of Central Europe, Poland has attached a special importance to relations with its Eastern neighbours since the 1990s. Poland’s foreign policy was primarily focused on integration into NATO and the EU in that decade, but good relations with its neighbouring countries, in particular in the East, also featured among its priorities. Poland is one of the biggest driving forces behind the EU policy towards Eastern neighbourhood. Warsaw has long supported the integration of its Eastern neighbours into the EU and NATO, and in 2008, it was one of the initiators of the Eastern Partnership, a EU’s policy towards Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. Poland provides political and financial support to the Eastern Partnership countries on their road to the EU through establishing a political association, free trade and visa-free travel between the EU and the partner countries.