Особенности диалога ФРГ с Польшей и Румынией к началу 2020-х годов: политические и военные аспекты

Abstract

The article attempts to reveal the features of current political and military dialogue between Germany and the countries of East-Central Europe (ECE) such as Poland and Romania. Without the active support of at least one of these countries, maintaining and strengthening the strategic presence of Germany in this region, which is so important for it, is problematic. Since 2014, the dialogue in the sphere of security and defence in Europe has been placed in the context of the confrontation between the Euro-Atlantic community and the Russian Federation. This process had a significant impact on the change in Germany’s position in ECE, creating both new difficulties and a «window of opportunity» for strengthening German influence. The principle of a graduated approach to building up confrontation with the Russian Federation, advocated by the FRG, came into sharp conflict with the position of the Republic of Poland due to significant differences in the models of foreign policy behavior of the two states in the implementation of their sovereign ambitions. Germany promotes the rotational principle of NATO’s multinational military presence near the border of the Alliance’s zone of responsibility, while Poland promotes a permanent one. Germany was not ready to agree to Poland’s participation in the Normandy format. At the same time, Warsaw has created obstacles for Berlin’s contacts with the Visegrad Group. In this situation, the FRG was interested in acquiring new partners in East-Central Europe, primarily in the development of a dialogue with Romania. In the second half of the 2010 s political contacts between the FRG and Romania noticeably intensified, but without institutionalization. Nevertheless, the institutionalization of contacts was observed along the lines of cooperation of the national armed forces (in the form of agreements on the association of military units). The author draws a conclusion about the evolution of German-Polish and German-Romanian relations in the field of security and defense in the second half of the 2010-s.