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Size matters: a comparison of French strategic partnerships with Poland and Slovakia

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Abstract

Slovakia (beforehand Czechoslovakia) and Poland have had historically outstanding relations with France, mainly in the interwar period. The relations deteriorated and had suffered from political supervision of Kremlin due to the communist regimes loyal to Moscow established after the WW2. A visible renaissance of both dyads can be observed in 90s as soon as democratic institutions were established in Slovakia and Poland. Moreover, another turning point came in 2008, when France has developed closer strategic partnerships with countries in the Central and Eastern Europe. The historical bonds it shared with Slovakia and Poland, the establishment of formal partnerships brought a significant new impetus in a range of areas of bilateral cooperation. In this paper, we attempt to compare two dyads that share the same partner and formal connection—action plans of partnership with France. We use comparison of contrasts since Poland and Slovakia differ in size, economic output and geopolitical ambitions. The former is considered a middle power, the latter a small state. Both share a similar topics of cooperation with France based on the action plans’ framework. We compared these plans with foreign policy strategic documents. For Slovakia, the action plans represent a unique opportunity to have a closer tie with one of European powers. As expected, we concluded that Poland nurtures a more balanced and ambitious partnership. Warsaw apparently uses its political and economic power to pursue geopolitical goals even above the EU level and teams with France even though action plans do not address the strategic issues in detail.

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Notes

  1. It is interesting to mention that the Visegrád Group was specifically emphasised in the area of defence cooperation (President 2013, 3); in the sphere of economics, support for the TTIP was mentioned (ibid., 5).

  2. These 13 areas are Future of the EU; European defence; coordination of financial policies and the multiannual financial Framework; Trade; Social Europe; Energy and climate; Road transport; Values and the rule of law; Justice and home affairs; Research and education; EU enlargement; ENP; International affairs.

  3. Slovakia, and to some extent Hungary, has the most positive relationship with Russia among the V4 and the CEE states, especially compared to Poland and the Baltics. France seeks an open attitude towards Russia and considers it a ‘European power’, bearing in mind the countries’ historical ties.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Masaryk University under Grant ‘Perspectives of European integration in context of global politics V’ [MUNI/A/1196/2022].

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  1. Department of International Relations and European Studies, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Joštova 10, 602 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Juraj Hajko & Vít Hloušek

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Hajko, J., Hloušek, V. Size matters: a comparison of French strategic partnerships with Poland and Slovakia. Fr Polit 21, 25–46 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41253-022-00202-z

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