What goes on in Poland on the 19th of February.
– The ideas that were at the very heart of organizing the Visegrad Group summit in Israel have been put into question. For now, we should keep a distance and look at the development of the situation. However, cooperation in the field of security is much more durable and is not so easily fluctuated by the current political agenda. However, we still have too little data to predict how the situation will develop in the long-term – Grzegorz Małecki, former head of the Foreign Intelligence Agency, currently president of the Foundation of the Institute of Security and Strategy told BiznesAlert.pl.
Special relations
Małecki noticed that the organization of such a summit would certainly give the group of Visegrad countries hope for a special relationship with Israel: – Thanks to that we could strengthen cooperation in areas where Israel is leading, and in the field of cyber security the country is the world’s leading – achieves special results under construction ecosystem, application of solutions ensuring security in cyberspace and using cyber security solutions to ensure security in the physical world. Let us remember that Israelis are very advanced in the use of digital technologies in the state security system – said the expert. He added that in a situation in which the Visegrad-Israeli summit was cancelled, the prospect of building special relations ensuring an increased transfer of knowledge, technology, know-how and joint ventures in the field was in question.
– I believe that the cancellation of this summit will not bring dramatic results directly, I am more afraid of disrupting Poland’s relations with Israel. Emotions are beginning to take the upper hand – both in Poland and in Israel elections are approaching, and in this particular period the distance, reserve and reflection do not dominate in the actions of politicians. This is disturbing – said Małecki.
Cooperation is more important than temporary disputes
According to the expert, the idea of implementing the Visegrad Group summit in Jerusalem was symbolic: – I do not think that cooperation in the V4 group in this area was particularly tightened. Rather, it was supposed to be a gesture of goodwill and showing special relations with Israel. The direct benefits and creation of business relations and in the sphere of security is nonetheless at the bilateral level – he stipulated.
– If we talk about economic issues and cybersecurity, then the braking will not take place in the short term due to political disruptions. This cooperation is going to grow regardless of political turbulence. Cooperation can only not get the special acceleration that could result from such a meeting. Cooperation develops with its own dynamics and will be so if Polish-Israeli relations do not undergo dramatic transformations – said Małecki and added that issues related to security and anti-terrorist activity are not usually closely related to current politics and they develop according to different logic: – I would not expect that this disruption will effect in inter-service or defense cooperation in the short term. These relationships are built over a long-term and on many levels. These relationships are much more durable and are not so easily fluctuated by the current political agenda. At the moment, however, we still have too little data to predict how things will go in the long run. Let’s also remember that a dozen or so months ago we already had a crisis in Polish-Israeli relations, so these are things that live their own lives in the political space and do not influence the executive level – he concluded.