Fresh News

We, the Prime Minister of Romania and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland chaired today, in Bucharest, the fourth Intergovernmental Consultations between our governments.
The fourth Intergovernmental Consultations are held in a celebratory context, as 30 years ago, on 25 January 1993, Romania and Poland signed the Treaty on Friendly Relations and Cooperation. Three decades later, Romania and Poland continue to prove their strong commitment to further advancing their friendship and strategic cooperation, as active members of the European Union and reliable Allies within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
We express our intention to establish 3 March as the Romanian-Polish Solidarity Day. In this regard, with the active support of the two governments and by coordinated actions at the level of our legislative bodies, both parties will take the necessary steps to complete as soon as possible their internal procedures. We will, thus, celebrate our longstanding friendship, cooperation and partnership by acknowledging the date of the signing, in 1921, of the Romanian-Polish Defensive Alliance Convention, which represents an important historical and symbolic landmark for our bilateral relations, which laid the foundation for close and trust-based ties between our nations.
We are also very pleased to announce the joint decision to establish a Romanian – Polish cultural season, in 2024-2025, in order to eloquently highlight our common history and to further stimulate cooperation between the creative sectors in the two countries.
Our countries fully support and promote a united and resilient European Union acting in a coordinated manner, based on solidarity, cohesion, democracy and commitment for fundamental values and principles.
We reaffirm the vital importance of the transatlantic partnership, the central role of NATO in protecting Europe and the significance of the NATO-EU cooperation according to the principles of complementarity, no duplication and maintaining interoperability. We are committed to working together in implementing the decisions of the Madrid Summit, including the consolidation of the Allied posture on the Eastern Flank, and to achieving consistent results in this respect at the Vilnius Summit to be held this year.
Romania and Poland have continued to coordinate closely with their Allies and partners, including within the framework of regional formats of cooperation such as the Bucharest 9 and the Romania – Poland – Türkiye Trilateral, whose utility and increasing relevance have been constantly reconfirmed by adoption and implementation of measures aimed at defending our core values, our countries and our citizens.
The unprovoked, unjustified and illegal war of aggression launched by Russia against Ukraine more than one year ago has challenged the Euro-Atlantic stability as well as the rules-based international order. Faced with the biggest refugee crisis since the end of the World War II, soaring energy prices, inflation, food insecurity, but also an insidious hybrid war and malign actions perpetrated by Russia, with negative global impact, we have remained united and continued to vehemently oppose the redrawing of maps by the use of military force and violation of sovereignty and territorial integrity of neighbouring States.
Under the pressure of the war waged at the gates of the EU and NATO, Romania and Poland have been at the forefront of supporting Ukraine and the brave Ukrainian people affected by Russia’s war of aggression, which we condemn in the strongest possible terms.
We strongly call on Russia to unconditionally cease the illegal use of force and withdraw its forces completely and immediately from the territory of Ukraine, within its internationally recognized borders.
Romania and Poland unwaveringly support the efforts to seek accountability for all serious crimes committed in Ukraine, including the crime of aggression, and to fight against impunity. Russia and its accomplice, Belarus, must bear the consequences of their actions and pay reparations for the vast destruction caused in Ukraine.
Our support for Ukraine remains rock-solid, consistent and multidimensional for as long as it takes. Ukraine’s victory in this war is a sine qua non condition of rebuilding durable peace and lasting stability in Europe.
At the same time, we strongly support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic of Moldova, within its internationally recognized borders. Except for Ukraine itself, the Republic of Moldova is the country most affected by the war waged by Russia against Ukraine. We strongly reject the unacceptable threatening rhetoric by Russia against the sovereign country of the Republic of Moldova. Russia must cease its provocative actions and statements, spreading disinformation and misinformation, baseless allegations and attempts to further destabilize the security and stability of the Republic of Moldova and the region.  
Romania and Poland remain committed to continue supporting the consistent efforts undertaken by both Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova, as candidate countries, on the path towards European integration. We express our hope in the opening of the EU accession negotiations with the two countries this year, and we will continue our demarches in this regard. Welcoming Ukraine’s NATO aspirations, we support the Vilnius NATO Summit to send a strong political signal with regard to NATO-Ukraine political relations and practical cooperation. We continue to support Bucharest Summit decisions regarding Georgia’s NATO aspirations and promote the Open-Door Policy. We support Georgia’s EU aspirations and we encourage the Georgian authorities to continue necessary reform efforts to obtain the EU candidate status.
We commend the adoption of assistance measures under the European Peace Facility that provide further military assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine consisting of a seventh package worth 500 million euro and measures supporting the training efforts of the European Union Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine.  We support a further increase in military support to the Ukrainian Armed Forces with an additional EUR 3.5 billion from the European Peace Facility and efforts to facilitate the immediate supply of ammunition to Ukraine, including through joint procurement at the EU level.
We express strong support for the creation of a new EU civilian mission in the Republic of Moldova and call for the rapid adoption of the necessary decision in this regard. We recall the valuable contribution of assistance measures taken so far under the European Peace Facility and call for maintaining the level of allocations in 2023, so to further contribute to strengthening the Republic of Moldova’s security, stability and resilience.
We will continue leveraging all the tools at our disposal to further support the interconnectivity with our Eastern neighbours by fostering the collaboration with Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia, including within the framework of the Three Seas Initiative, whose 2023 Summit will be hosted by Romania in September, and the Eastern Partnership policy, where we cooperate closely with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and the democratic forces and civil society from Belarus.
In the spirit of the strategic partnership binding our countries, we have decided together to further strengthen the cooperation between the Romanian and Polish governments through continuously deepening:

• our close cooperation in the field of security and defence, bilaterally and regionally (the Bucharest 9 Format, Romania – Poland – Türkiye Trilateral), within NATO, the EU and through fostering NATO-EU cooperation in the context of the changed security situation in Europe;
• our bilateral economic cooperation and trade. We express our satisfaction for the organization, in the margins of the Intergovernmental Consultations, of the Romanian-Polish Business Forum, a platform for direct interaction and identifying business opportunities for the Romanian and Polish companies. Concrete initiatives and projects will further strengthen our economic ties and encourage mutual investments;
• our cooperation in the fields of agriculture, infrastructure and connectivity, trade and investment, industry, support for SMEs, finance, support for families, labour, social protection and social inclusion, environment, regional development, culture, education, sport;
• our coordination under the auspices of the Agreement between the Government of Romania and the Government of the Republic of Poland concerning Cooperation in Defence Industries. The swift operationalization of the Joint Commission provided for in the Agreement will contribute to the full and efficient implementation of this relevant document;
• our cooperation in the field of energy and sustainable development, with a particular focus on the European dimension as well as on ensuring our energy security; this is particularly relevant in the context of Russia’s continuous attacks against Ukraine’s critical and civilian infrastructure and of the need to further increase resilience of the most vulnerable States, such as Republic of Moldova;
• our political partnership in its bilateral, regional (including in the context of the Three Seas Initiative, with such priority projects as Via Carpathia and Rail2Sea) and Euro-Atlantic dimensions, including in relation to the EU’s neighbourhood;
• our coordination in relation to border area issues, fighting organised crime and terrorism, preventing the instrumentalisation of migration, emergency situations’ management and civil protection.

In this spirit, we witnessed today the signing of the following bilateral documents:

• Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Sport of Romania and the Ministry of Sport and Tourism of the Republic of Poland in the field of sport
• Declaration of Cooperation in the field of civil protection.

    Nicolae-Ionel Ciucă                                                 Mateusz Morawiecki
             Prime Minister of Romania                            Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland