Po land and Czech Re pu b lic – Fields of Co o pe ra tion 01-06 14 maja 2010 07:35:23 01-06 14 maja 2010 07:35:23 CENTRUM STOSUNKÓW MIÊDZYNARODOWYCH CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Po land and Czech Re pu b lic – Fields of Co o pe ra tion Wa r saw 2010 01-06 14 maja 2010 07:35:23 Acknowledgements The Center for International Relations is pleased to announce that the present publication is part of the project funded by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland in the framework of the contest “Supporting the Development of Polish – Czech relations”. Published by: Center for International Relations Editor: Aleksander Szpor Proofreading: Cathal Flynn (articles 1, 2, 3 and 5) Translation: Micha³ Piotrowski (articles 1, 4, introduction and recommendations) ISBN: 978-83-88216-54-1 © Copyright by Fundacja Centrum Stosunków Miêdzynarodowych, 2010. Wy dane przez: Fun dac ja Cen trum Sto sunków Miê dzynarodowych ul. Emilii Plater 25 00-688 War szawa tel. +48 22 646 52 67 fax +48 22 646 52 58 e-mail: [email protected] www.csm.org.pl Sk³ad, pro jekt ok³adki, ³aman ie, druk i oprawa: WEMA Wy dawn ictwo-Po lig rafia Sp. z o.o. 00-093 War szawa, ul. Dani³owic zowska 18a tel. +48 22 828 62 78, fax +48 22 828 57 79 e-mail: [email protected] www.wp-wema.pl www.stu dioctp.pl 01-06 14 maja 2010 07:35:24 Contents In tro du c tion .................................7 Ja kub Gro sz ko wski Po li ti cal Fa c tors and the ir In flu en ce on Po lish and Czech Com mon In te rests in the Con text of Cen tral Eu ro pe an Re la tions ......9 Vit Do stal Czech Fo re ign Po li cy 2006–2009; The Cur rent De ba te be twe en the Po li ti cal Parties’, its Re sults and Pro spects for the Futu re .......15 Jiøí Schne i der Poland and the Czech Repu b lic: Our Com mon Inte res t in Making NATO and the EU a Real Strate gic An chor ..........27 Ale ksan der Szpor Poland and the Czech Repu b lic in the Euro pe an Union – Com mon Chal len ges ...........................33 Fi lip Èernoch, Petr Ocelik Cze ch - Po lish Co -o pe ra tion in the Field of Ene r gy: The Po ten tial of LNG for Ene r gy Se cu ri ty in Cen tral Eu ro pe .......41 Jiøí Schne i der, Eu ge niusz Smo lar Sum ma ry of Re com men da tions ......................59 01-06 14 maja 2010 07:35:24 01-06 14 maja 2010 07:35:24 In trod ucti on Ac cor ding to the una ni mo us opi nion of the au t hors of the pre sent pu b li ca tion, Poli s h - Czech re la tions are cur ren t ly wi t nes sing one of the best pe riods in the ir hi sto ry. A lack of ma jor di spu tes has co in ci ded with both the re cen t ly te r mi na ted Czech pre siden cy of the Coun cil of the Eu rope an Union, and the prepa ra tions for the Po lish pre si den cy. The se cir cu m stan ces are con du ci ve to a mu tu al rappro che ment, but fu l filling the ir full poten tial is still a task to be performed. This task was un de r ta ken jo in t ly by the Cen ter for In ter na tio nal Re la tions and the Pra gue Se cu ri ty Stu dies In sti tu te, which or ga ni zed two se mi nars in the se cond half of 2009, de vo ted to dra f ting a stra te gy for co o pe ra tion be twe en our two co un tries. The com pre hen si ve de scri p tion of Poli s h - Czech re la tions con sti tu tes a new, bro a der ap pro ach to the se re la tions. The se mi nars iden ti fied the most ac ti ve pla y ers in Poli s h - Czech re la tions in the pu b lic, pri va te and in cre a sin gly im po r tant NGO se c tors. Va rio us fields of co o pe ra tion were di s cus sed, the aims of in di vi du al en ti ties were exam i ned, and, fi nal ly, me a sures for their implementation were laid out. The pre sent pu b li ca tion ma in ly con sti tu tes a ba c k gro und for the on go ing di s cus sion, but also sum ma ri zes and de scri bes the most im po r tant mo tions that were ra i sed du ring the pro ject. The first ar ti c le is de vo ted to Poli s h - Czech re la tions in terms of the ir ro ots in rela tions with other coun tries of the region. The follo wing text exa mi nes the cur rent po li ti cal si tu a tion in the Czech Re pu b lic and pre sents po ssi b le sce na rios for the de ve lo p ment of Czech fo re ign po li cy. The next ar ti c le ou t li nes the main present and fu tu re challen ges for the Euro pe an Union, which the Czech Repu b lic and Poland will also have to face. It is worth pay ing special atten tion to the ar ti c le de vo ted to the key stra te gic aspects of Po lish and Czech mem be r s hip wi t hin NATO and the EU. The last text di s cus ses Poli s h - Czech co o pe ra tion in the ene r gy se c tor, as an espe cial ly to pi cal, but also sym pto ma tic exa m p le of both countries’ com mon in te rests. The fi nal se c tion of the pu b li ca tion in clu des con c lu sions sum ma ri zing the key po ints ra i sed du ring the pro ject, which also con sti tu te the im po rtant and practical recommendations of the entire publication. The Cen ter for In ter na tio nal Re la tions is ple a sed to an no un ce that the pre sent pu b lica tion is part of the pro ject funded by the Mini stry of Fore ign Af fairs of the Repu b lic of Po land in the fram ework of the contest “Sup po r ting the De ve lo p ment of Polish – Czech rela tions” . 07-08 14 maja 2010 08:03:00 07-08 14 maja 2010 08:03:00 Ja kub Grosz kows ki Po lit ical Fac tors and the ir In flue nce on Polish and Czech Common In ter ests in the Con text of Cen tral Eu rop ean Relations Poli s h - Czech re la tions are cur ren t ly wi t nes sing one of the best pe riods in their histo ry. While our co un tries are in the final stages of a transfo r m ation pro cess, they are also un de r ta king ever bo l der fo re ign po li cy go als, and are be co ming in cre a sin gly ac ti ve in se e king to in flu en ce the ir geo po li ti cal en vi ron ment. Unfo rtu na te ly, the chan ces of im p le men ting spe ci fic in te rests are sub ject to the cur rent po li ti cal con fi gu ra tion in each re spe c ti ve co un try. The aim of the pre sent text is to tra ce the po ten tial chan ges in Poli s h - Czech com mon in te rests with re gard to the re sults of Czech par lia men ta ry ele c tions planned for May 2010. The roots of the cur rent boom in Polis h -Cze ch re lations may be tra ced back to the pe riod of de mo c ra tic op po si tion in Po land and Cze chos lo va kia. Thus, it is not sur pri sing that they re ached their high point at the time when key func tions in both the Po lish and Czech gove r n ments were held by pe o p le co ming from the se po li ti cal en vi ron ments. Di rect con tacts be twe en dis si dents not only hel ped to crea te the Vise grad Triangle in 1991, but also for m ed the ba sis for fu r t her pro jects lin king the po li ti cal right in Cen tral Eu ro pe (1999, 2006).