Information from the Minister of Foreign Affairs on the current state of cooperation within the Three Seas Initiative
(Committee on Foreign Affairs, Sejm, October 10, 2024)
On 10 October 2024, a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland was held, at which the position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the Three Seas Initiative and the Bucharest Nine and other selected issues was presented.
On the government side, the position was presented by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Władysław Bartoszewski. Here are the key theses of the speech regarding the Three Seas Initiative (excerpts from the record of the meeting):
- “The Three Seas Initiative, which was initially assessed with skepticism by the previous opposition, which forms the current government, has gained additional significance precisely in connection with changes in other formats. For example, we all know what is happening in the Visegrad Four, the V4. And in this context, the Three Seas Initiative is taking on new values, and we fully appreciate this now.”
- “There is currently a conviction in the participating states that the Three Seas Initiative can be very useful. The Three Seas region has various common economic interests justifying a cooperation platform, and we see that this potential has not yet been fully exploited, but there are opportunities for further development. From Poland’s perspective, we believe there is a great deal of potential in sectoral and EU cooperation. There is a general consensus on strengthening the international dimension of cooperation.”
- “We see the Three Seas Initiative – and here this is a reference to changing alliances – as a certain alternative to the Visegrad Group because the Three Seas Initiative has many more members and offers greater opportunities to build a majority or a blocking minority in the European Council based on a simple agreement of the member states. This could implement the strategic partnership within the Three Seas that exists with the European Commission and could be an element of the Polish presidency of the European Union.”
- “In addition, it is also possible to strengthen the position of Polish business in the region because the Three Seas summits are now accompanied by business forums that allow companies from the region and partner countries to cooperate and strengthen their position, especially in the field of low-emission and digital technologies.”
- “The dominance of states with a transatlantic or Euro-Atlantic orientation within the Three Seas Initiative places the pro-Chinese and pro-Russian countries of the region, primarily Hungary and partially Slovakia, in the role of partial outsiders, which is not the case within the Visegrad Group, where there are two and two at the moment. Increasing involvement in the Three Seas Initiative would also help us in relations with Russia and China.”
- “This initiative strengthens the region’s security and resilience due to its Euro-Atlantic orientation and emphasis on the economic security of critical infrastructure, especially energy, transport, and digital in the context of its dual use and military mobility.”
- “It also strengthens the northern dimension of Polish foreign policy towards the Baltic and Nordic areas, which is the culmination of the north-south axis, also in the context of Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO and Helsinki’s interest in the Three Seas Initiative, also in connection with the drastic increase in the role of the Baltic Sea in ensuring energy security for Poland and the region.”
You can find the full transcript here
