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PL / EN
Energy SECURITY 5 April, 2023 8:00 am   
COMMENTS: Joanna Słowińska

WEI: Poland needs the Berlin-Paris-Warsaw axis

Angela-Merkel-Andrzej-Duda-Emmanuel-Marcron-760×522 Emmanuel Macron, Andrzej Duda, Angela Merkel. Picture by Polish Press Agency

“All our actions in the coming years should be guided by one vision, common to all political circles: a Europe based on the cultural, political and economic alliance of the three countries France-Germany-Poland. The three capitals Berlin-Warsaw-Paris should decide on all the most important aspects of Europe’s foreign and economic policies and the model of EU cooperation,” stated analysts from the Warsaw Enterprise Institute in the proposal for a new political strategy of Poland.

The dynamics of the events in recent years has opened a historical opportunity to Poland. How we use Poland’s growing importance in Europe today may determine not only our prosperity and security, but the political order of Europe and its relations with what will hatch out of Russia in the future. The strategic goal of Polish policy should be to create a permanent Berlin-Warsaw-Paris axis, within which decisions would be made on the most important aspects of Europe’s foreign and economic policy, as well as on the model of EU cooperation. To achieve this, Poland must be wealthy and strong. We want to help build it, so we are updating the Program Notebooks of the Polish agenda concerning the most important areas of the state’s functioning.

Since the 13th century, every war beyond the eastern border of Poland has resulted in the reconstruction of the geopolitical order in Central Europe. This time it will be no different, regardless of how the Russian aggression in Ukraine will ultimately end.

The two paradigms on which the European order was based after World War II have not stood the test of time. Both the paradigm of German-Russian domination and monitoring of the states “between” and the Franco-German alliance in shaping the socio-economic relations of Europe have failed. None of them, each for slightly different reasons, despite ongoing efforts, will be able to ensure stability and development on the continent.

That is why today we need a strategy that would restore Poland’s importance and opportunities for development, which we have not had for 500 years. All our actions in the coming years should be guided by one vision, common to all political circles: a Europe based on the cultural, political and economic alliance of the three countries France-Germany-Poland. The three capitals Berlin-Warsaw-Paris should decide on all the most important aspects of European foreign policy, economic policy and the model of EU cooperation.

Strategies are different from political programs in that at the implementation stage they require in-depth changes in the functioning of the state. These are not reflections on what is possible and easy to do today, nor on results of the political calculations of individual parties. Strategy is a path to a completely different reality than the one we are in. Strategies take into account the opportunities ahead, but at the same time they are supposed to prepare us for changes that no one has ever planned on such a scale before. This is the challenge faced by the communities surrounding ZPP, WEI, the Center for Strategic Studies, the Consumer Forum – dozens of experts, analysts specializing in various fields, from economics to education, demography and security; people from different walks of life, different views, united by one common vision of the country. With this in mind, we are working on another far-reaching strategy.

The first Polish Agenda was created four years ago. You will find it on our website: agendapolska.wei.org.pl. A number of our demands resulting from the analysis of the political and economic situation have been used, others have become even more urgent and are still waiting for their implementation. The experience of the first Polish agenda gave us not only a wealth of knowledge, but also the belief that even the most ambitious and seemingly abstract goals can be achieved. The project, to which we invite not only our experts, but all those who see the uniqueness of the moment, the opportunities facing Poland, will be widely consulted and will not be limited to purely theoretical ideas, but it will also have practical ideas to implement.

The full text of the WEI agenda is available HERE.