POLISH FOREIGN POLICY STRATEGY

1. Alliances

Tasks:

• Ensure full implementation of Newport and Warsaw NATO summit conclusions. · Continue measures to strengthen the eastern flank, while engaging in joint operations in the south, also in collaboration with Turkey.
• Foster cooperation between NATO and the EU in the spirit of the Warsaw Summit Communique.
• Promote a robust transatlantic relationship and a strong US presence in Europe. Observe commitments on defense spending and armed forces modernization.
• Take part in out-of-area missions carried out by NATO .

2. Poland’s Neighborhood

Tasks:

• Take action to uphold the European security architecture based on OSCE principles, focusing on confidence-building measures.
• Ensure that NATO-Russia relations – based on the “3D” principle (Defense, Deterrence, Dialogue) – are a tool for NATO to clearly communicate its position and to make Russia aware of the costs of continuing its policies of aggression, and not to sideline sensitive questions and return to “business as usual”.
• Support NATO and EU open-door policies; strengthen security cooperation with Eastern European countries and build up their crisis resilience.
• Continue to collaborate with the Baltic States and Romania on reinforcing the eastern flank, especially when it comes to the Baltic Air Policing mission and Enhanced Forward Presence.
• Continue collaboration with the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary in the framework of the Visegrad Battlegroup.
• Continue Polish-Lithuanian-Ukrainian military cooperation as part of a joint brigade.
• Reinforce infrastructural connectivity between Baltic and Central European countries, including those located between the Baltic, Adriatic and Black Seas.
• Continue to take measures aimed at consolidating cooperation between the defense industries of the V4 countries, as well as cooperation between Poland’s arms industry and its Scandinavian counterparts.
• Facilitate cooperation between the defense industries of Poland and Ukraine.
• Deepen collaboration within the Weimar Triangle.
• Partake in efforts and initiatives – both regional and global – in support of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

3. Military Strength

Tasks:

• In line with allied commitments, ensure the development of national defence capabilities by maintaining spending at a minimum of 2% GDP (as per NATO methodology whereby defense spending is calculated as a percentage of GDP in the year it is incurred), and ensure that at least 20% of that budget is allocated to armed forces modernization.
• Leverage the process of armed forces modernization in order to transfer modern technologies to Poland.
• Support the Polish defense industry’s global presence, including its involvement in initiatives taken by NATO and the EU.
• Create proper conditions for implementing the Warsaw NATO summit decisions, especially with respect to the deployment of the US Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT) and Enhanced Forward Presence in Poland; take active part in these initiatives.
• Ensure full implementation of the Polish-US agreement on the establishment of the Missile Defense base in Poland.
• Continue to develop anti-hybrid capabilities.
• With regard to NATO’s area of responsibility during peace, ensure allied troops’ critical freedom of cross-border movement

4. Growth

Tasks

• Communicate that the EU integration model based on the four fundamental freedoms and the principle of subsidiarity is inviolable – especially in discussions on the future of the EU.
• Defend Polish interests in negotiating the Multiannual Financial Framework for 2021-2027, especially Cohesion Policy and Common Agricultural Policy.
• Ensure full implementation of the principle of free movement of services and – when it comes to the digital market – free movement of goods, digital content, and data (while protecting privacy and identifying exceptions arising from the need to ensure public security).
• Take action to uphold labor mobility in the EU.
• Seek to link EU climate policy with the need to ensure the Union’s competitiveness.
• Support measures aimed at stabilizing the Eurozone, maintaining EU unity and cohesion, and ensuring citizen-voters’ democratic oversight over taxation and public finance in their respective countries.
• Seek to strengthen Central European countries’ say in the European Union.
• When negotiating legislative proposals relating to the European Commission’s Clean Energy for All Europeans package, ensure that EU Member States retain the freedom to shape their own energy mix, energy and climate policy, and investment decisions – while upholding the principle of subsidiary and technological neutrality.

5. Economy

Tasks

• Support the Polish Development Fund in creating a modern mechanism of economic promotion abroad that effectively facilitates the internationalization of Polish business (by supporting Polish companies and attracting investment and technology) and implements the Strategy for Responsible Development until 2020 (with prospects until 2030) and the Plan for Responsible Development.
• Facilitate Poland’s transition from an ‘emerging’ economy to a ‘developed’ economy; in parallel, the Polish competitiveness model should shift from low labor costs to more hi-tech products.
• Promote instruments supporting the development of modern technologies and innovation by Polish entities, including the Horizon 2020 program.
• Seek to incorporate scientific cooperation into international dialogue, especially in fields important for the development of a knowledge-based society and economy.
• Bid for Poland’s membership in the G20.
• Take action to facilitate re-emigration and repatriation in response to a possible demographic crisis.  

6.Economic Expansion

Tasks:

• Take action to increase the share of highly processed goods in the structure of Polish exports.
• Seek to expand the volume of exported raw materials, especially hard coal.
• Enter into new international agreements with countries of South Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Australia – based on common goals as regards the use of raw materials, especially coal.
• Assist Polish businesses in expanding onto new international markets, in particular by developing cooperation with Asian, African, Middle Eastern, and Latin American countries.
• Seek favorable provisions in trade agreements negotiated by the EU.
• Continue the implementation of infrastructural initiatives that can enhance Central European cohesion, especially along the North-South axis.
• Seek cooperation opportunities with non-European partners, especially the People’s Republic of China, in the implementation of regional infrastructure projects.
• Identify and eliminate barriers to non-EU markets that are particularly cumbersome for Polish exporters.
• Support international measures – especially within the WTO – that strengthen the global trade system, in line with Polish economic interests.
• Cooperate with countries in the region, as well as with non-European countries, with a view to advancing scientific research and creating innovative products and technologies. 
• Attract more foreign tourists by promoting innovative tourism products.

7. Values

Tasks

• Promote civil liberties and human rights, in the spirit of the fundamental documents of the United Nations Organization.
• Stress the importance of values referred to in the fundamental documents of the OSCE, the EU, and the Council of Europe.
• Steer the EU toward restoring the right balance between the principle of state sovereignty and the prerogatives of Community institutions; promote transparency and the democratic mandate in the EU decision-making process.
• Support and initiate activities relating to interreligious dialogue.
• Support initiatives relating to pro-family policy, especially in the area of legislative regulations.
• Use the promotion of the Polish identity abroad as a path to promoting values arising from Poland’s history and culture. Promote Poland’s identity by taking into account local circumstances, paying special attention to the needs of Poles in the East.
• Undertake measures to reconstruct and protect Polish cultural heritage – including material heritage in the East.

8. Credibility and Global Obligations

Tasks

• Conduct an active UN policy to advance the implementation of the organization’s fundamental principles, also in the framework of Poland’s non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
• Take actions aimed at Poland’s return to UN peacekeeping operations.
• Consistently fulfil the commitments arising from the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the Polish Development Cooperation Program for 2016 – 2020.
• Engage Polish businesses in development cooperation projects.
• Protect Polish citizens abroad, including in the area of workers’ rights and the rights of minors to use the Polish language.
• Uphold the rights of Polish minorities.
• Maintain an effective and flexible visa policy toward Eastern European countries.
• Adapt – possibly extend – the network of Polish embassies, consulates, cultural institutes, and honorary consulates, in order to meet new circumstances and protect Poland’s interests.

9. Brand

Tasks

• Bolster the network of Polish Institutes
• Protect and project Poland’s reputation as part of its political and economic promotion.
• Develop an international promotion program that will underscore Poland’s historical accomplishments and modern-day achievements – including in the area of arts and culture – and reach out to modern audiences in different parts of the world.
• Define the principles of Poland’s scientific diplomacy that will help enhance the country’s international standing by promoting its scientific accomplishments and potential. 
• Strengthen Poland’s soft power by conducting an active scholarship policy and fostering lasting relations with foreign graduates of Polish universities.
• Treat the 100th anniversary of Poland’s independence as an opportunity to promote Polish contributions to Western civilization and to promote its historical and cultural heritage, including through the 2017-2021 “Niepodległa” (Independent Poland) Program. 
• Vehemently oppose “defective codes of memory” and the relativization of responsibility for the Holocaust by popularizing Poland’s role in defeating 20th -century totalitarianisms and by fostering the memory of Polish “Righteous Among the Nations”.
• Undertake promotion initiatives together with the Polish diaspora.
• Strive to transform teaching of the Polish language and culture into a key branding instrument.
• Take action to protect and reconstruct the Polish cultural heritage abroad, especially in Eastern Europe.
• Promote the joint accomplishments, culture and traditions of the First Polish Republic among the nations that were once part of it.
• Actively pursue the goals of the Polish presidency of the UN international climate negotiations.