№078: Pushing the Turbo Button: What Next for the Polish–Romanian Strategic Partnership?
№078: Pushing the Turbo Button: What Next for the Polish–Romanian Strategic Partnership?

Author(s): Łukasz Kulesa, Agnes Nicolescu, Stanislav Secrieru, Anita Sobják
Subject(s): International relations/trade, Developing nations
Published by: PISM Polski Instytut Spraw Międzynarodowych
Keywords: Central Europe; Poland; Romania; bilateral relations; economy; Europe; international cooperation; Security
Summary/Abstract: With the global economic downturn and its implications for the broader political and security architecture of the EU, the Polish-Romanian Strategic Partnership signed in 2009 is now ripe to take the positive relationship to a new level and to be further fleshed out. To this end, political coordination needs to be upgraded for promoting common interests, such as economic stability and solidarity within the Union, continued support to agriculture and cohesion policy as an important priority for EU funding, increasing the energy security of the region, engaging the neighbourhood, particularly Moldova and Ukraine, and maintaining the relevance of CSDP and of article 5 of the Washington Treaty high on the European agenda. The management of instability and protracted conflicts in their neighbourhood are also among their shared concerns. Translating these common priorities into concrete actions should aim at pushing the “turbo button” on the partnership, and help both countries achieve their goals.The paper is a result of cooperation between the Polish Institute of International Affairs and the European Institute of Romania and was written as a follow-up to the conference “Romanian-Polish Strategic Partnership: Sharing Mutual Visions” organised jointly by the two think-tanks in Bucharest on 11 September 2013.

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