Strategic partnership of Poland and Lithuania in the context of the EU neighbourhood policy

Šiuo straipsniu siekiama įvertinti Lietuvos ir Lenkijos strateginės partnerystės poreikį ir turinį, parodyti jos reikšmę Europos Sąjungos Rytų kaimynystės politikos įgyvendinimui. Oficialiai Lietuva ir Lenkija strategiškai artėja jau daugiau nei dešimtmetį ir, nors dauguma politikos analitikų skeptiškai vertina šią strateginę partnerystę, tačiau vis artimesnis šalių bendradarbiavimas pastebimas ne tik politinėje, bet ir ekonominėje srityje. Be to, Lietuva ir Lenkija yra aktyviausios naujosios ES narės plėtojant ES Rytų politiką. Šiuo metu tai yra bene svarbiausia bendra jų darbo niša, užpildanti ir strateginės partnerystės turinį. Lietuvos ir Lenkijos tikslai užsienio politikos srityje ir kuriama jų strateginė partnerystė įtraukia ir tokias šalis kaip Ukraina ir Gruzija, siekiant apriboti Rusijos galią regione. Dėl to ši politika gana greitai gali sukelti iš Rusijos pusės kylančių neigiamų padariniųIn this article it is sought to evaluate the need and the matter of the strategic partnership of Poland and Lithuania in showing the importance of this partnership for the implementation of the EU Eastern neighborhood policy. Officially the strategic approach of Poland and Lithuania has been developing for more than decade (from 1997) and today this collaboration of the relationship is noticed in several spheres: political, security, economical. Also, Lithuania and Poland are the most active new members of the EU in developing the EU Eastern policy. Today these common activities fulfill the matter of the strategic partnership as well. On the other hand, foreign policy goals of these two countries involve the democratization of CIS area in such countries like Ukraine and Georgia. Consequently such a kind of policy seeks to restrict Russian power in the Eastern European countries, and has a very negative attitude from the Russian side. The strategic partnership of Poland and Lithuania started because of foreign and security policy’s interest and goals. For Lithuania Poland was very important in her way to the Western structures – the EU and NATO. Poland was first to join NATO and she had better relationship and experience in communicating with the big European powers. For Poland the partnership with Lithuania was useful because of her Eastern policy which became a very visible part of strategic partnership from 2004. The strategic duet of Poland and Lithuania mostly coordinates the activities in developing the democratization processes in Eastern Europe region. This active performance of the strategic partnership was noticed on the wider international stage – not just between the EU members, but also in Russia. The latter’s interests contradict with the ideas of Polish Eastern dimension and because of this the strategic partnership creates the confrontation with Russia.[...]Politikos mokslų ir diplomatijos fakult.Vytauto Didžiojo universiteta