Romanian-Polish bilateral relations

After France and Germany, Romanias president Klaus Iohannis has travelled to Poland, the third NATO and EU member he visited since taking office.

Bogdan Matei, 13.03.2015, 13:39

The idea of a Romanian-Polish “sanitary cordon”, aimed as a barrier to the USSR expansion to the west under Stalin, emerged as a geopolitical concept ever since the interwar period. In the early 2000s, after the break-up of the former communist bloc and before NATO could begin its expansion towards Eastern Europe, political experts in the West acknowledged Poland and Romania, Moscow’s largest former satellites, as the most important assets for NATO. Today members of both NATO and the European Union, the two countries are consolidating their strategic role, having the largest borderlines on Europe’s eastern flank and both having Ukraine as their neighbour.

For the new Romanian president Klaus Iohannis, Warsaw was the third EU capital to visit since he took office, after Paris and Berlin. The talks on Thursday between president Iohannis and his Polish counterpart Bronislaw Komorowski focused on the region’s security agenda, in particular the crisis in Ukraine. “I have reiterated Romania’s full support for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognised borders”, said the Romanian president, while his Polish counterpart emphasised that Poland relies on Romania’s support to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank.

According to Radio Romania’s correspondent in Warsaw, president Komorowski pointed out that the upcoming NATO summit to be held next year in Warsaw must focus on taking decisions to increase regional security. The two heads of state agreed to hold a new series of talks between the region’s heads of state this autumn in Bucharest ahead of the summit in Warsaw. President Komorowski has warned that Western powers should be prepared in the event of a breach of the ceasefire between Ukrainian government troops and the pro-Russian militias in Eastern Ukraine. Iohannis and Komorowski also signed a joint declaration aimed at furthering cooperation under the Strategic Partnership between Romania and Poland, which both presidents see as key against the current background.

Apart from the security concerns in the region, the two leaders also discussed economic issues, with president Iohannis calling for stepping up economic cooperation between Romania and Poland. He said Romania wants to attract more Polish investors and to have more Romanian businesses on the Polish market.

Also on Thursday, Iohannis met representatives of the Romanian community in Poland, which he described as “true ambassadors of Romania”. “The professionalism and commitment with which you apply yourselves to your everyday work add to the good reputation of our country”, president Iohannis told the Romanians living in Poland.