journal of european integration history revue d'histoire de l ...
journal of european integration history revue d'histoire de l ...
journal of european integration history revue d'histoire de l ...
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20<br />
Ania Krok-Paszkowska and Jan Zielonka<br />
Schroe<strong>de</strong>r unexpectedly supported Poland’s request for additional funding after his<br />
meeting with Poland’s prime minister Leszek Miller. 49<br />
NATO was important in Poland’s relations with the Union because <strong>of</strong> its<br />
perceived role in securing the continent and in anchoring the United States in<br />
Europe. Successive Polish governments saw NATO and EU enlargements as<br />
closely linked and mutually reinforcing. 50 Economic prosperity and <strong>de</strong>mocracy<br />
were seen as possible only in a secure environment. As early as December 1991,<br />
Polish prime minister Jan Olszewski stressed that NATO was a pillar <strong>of</strong> European<br />
security and the presence <strong>of</strong> the US army in Europe was a factor <strong>of</strong> stability. The<br />
worry was that without inclusion in NATO, Poland would become part <strong>of</strong> a “grey<br />
zone” in which other states would retain the right to <strong>de</strong>ci<strong>de</strong> on its political future. 51<br />
In its statement on the opening <strong>of</strong> EU accession negotiations, the Polish<br />
government again un<strong>de</strong>rlined that<br />
“EU membership […], in combination with membership in NATO, will be<br />
conducive to the consolidation <strong>of</strong> the <strong>de</strong>mocratic or<strong>de</strong>r and security in this part <strong>of</strong> the<br />
continent”. 52<br />
Poland’s initial overtures to NATO were met with even more cautious reaction in<br />
the West than its overtures to the EU. Western governments, including the<br />
American one, were anxious not to antagonise the Soviet Union, and later Russia. 53<br />
With the passage <strong>of</strong> time, however, these attitu<strong>de</strong>s changed. In 1994, the presi<strong>de</strong>nts<br />
<strong>of</strong> the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia met with presi<strong>de</strong>nt Clinton<br />
in Prague and pushed hard for admission to NATO. Instead, they were <strong>of</strong>fered<br />
collaboration with NATO within the Partnership for Peace framework. However, in<br />
1997, in Madrid, NATO invited Poland to join its ranks as a full member. Even<br />
before it joined in 1999, Poland’s enthusiasm about NATO was seen as problematic<br />
in some countries <strong>of</strong> the Union because <strong>of</strong> its American rather than Russian<br />
49. Schroe<strong>de</strong>r gives Poles the cream, in: Financial Times-Observer-Europe, December 15 th 2002.<br />
50. H. SUCHOCKA, Poland's European perspective, in: NATO-review, 41:3(June 1993), p.3; W.<br />
CIMOSZEWICZ, Building Poland’s security: membership <strong>of</strong> NATO as a key objective, NATO<br />
Review, 4:3(May 1996), pp.3-7; B. GEREMEK, Europäische Politik zwischen Ost und West.<br />
Polens geostrategischen Chancen, in: Internationale-Politik, 54:11(November 1999), pp.35-40.<br />
51. W. CIMOSZEWICZ, The Eastern Dimension <strong>of</strong> the European Union. The Polish View, Speech at<br />
the Conference “The EU Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy”, Warsaw, February 20 th 2003.<br />
52. Statement on the opening <strong>of</strong> Poland’s negotiations on membership in the European Union,<br />
Brussels, March 31 st 1998, Yearbook <strong>of</strong> Polish European Studies, vol.2.<br />
53. A. MICHTA, Poland. A Linchpin <strong>of</strong> Regional Security, in: A. MICHTA (ed.), America's new<br />
allies: Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic in NATO, University <strong>of</strong> Washington Press,<br />
Seattle/London, 1999, pp.40-73.