Summary

The year 2021 in the work of the Foreign Affairs Committee (FAC) was primarily marked by building and developing inter-parliamentary relations. - We support the cooperation of our parliaments to speak with one strong voice on key issues, such as security," he stresses Committee Chairman Marek Kuchciński, who discussed the current situation in the world with his counterparts from Germany, Lithuania, Ukraine, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Romania, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Georgia. The main topic of the meetings was security in Europe, especially in the context of cyber attacks, disinformation, the situation on the Polish-Belarusian military border, the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, Russian activity around the borders of Ukraine and in the illegally annexed Crimea. The formats he plans to strengthen are the Eastern Partnership and the Weimar Triangle.

The Commission expressed support for the Associated Trio forum for closer integration set up by Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, the three Eastern Partnership countries associated with the European Union and well advanced in the reform process. It underlined its strategic importance in the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy, as well as for the European integration process of the Western Balkan countries.

One of the Commission's priorities is to support the fight for democracy and human rights. The MEPs have called for the return of Polish and Lithuanian diplomats expelled by Lukashenko, condemned the arrest of Belarusian opposition activist Roman Protasiewicz and the attempted murder of Alexei Navalny, expressed solidarity with the Czech Republic after an ammunition depot was blown up in Vrbetice, and called for the release of political prisoners, They opposed the liquidation by the Russian authorities of the Memorial Association, which for over thirty years has been documenting the crimes of the Communist regime; they expressed solidarity with the citizens of Afghanistan who, as a result of the Taliban takeover, are at risk of losing their hard-won rights to education, work, health care, and personal freedom. Together with the V4 countries, they also expressed opposition to interference by third countries in the internal affairs of EU member states.

The instrumentalization of the phenomenon of irregular migration, which has been artificially created as part of hybrid actions against the EU to achieve political ends, has been strongly condemned. The statement issued by the SZA reads that using people to achieve political results clearly violates basic European values and international norms. The actions of the Belarusian authorities, clearly and systematically putting the lives of vulnerable people at risk, are unacceptable.

According to the Commission, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline will also serve to increase Russian pressure on its neighbors and on EU and NATO countries. It called on EU governments and institutions, as well as the international community, to respond adequately, quickly and decisively to the actions of the Russian Federation. It called for steps to be taken to effectively halt construction of the pipeline as a threat to Russian expansionism. It called on the European Union and its Member States, including, above all, the Federal Republic of Germany, as our ally in NATO and partner in the European Union, to withdraw any support for the project and to take steps to immediately and effectively stop its construction as a project contrary to the security interests of the European Union and our region, opening the way to energy blackmail and political corruption.

The Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee in 2020 gained an additional field for developing international and inter-parliamentary cooperation - the Carpathian Europe Conference. In 2021, this format successfully proved itself as a platform for talks between the chairpersons of European Foreign Affairs Committees, parliamentarians, scientists, entrepreneurs. Here, the community of spirit - values, culture, traditions, environmental protection - comes to the fore, but common interests are also important to ensure the development of the region or security. Carpathian Europe means also interesting initiatives - one of them is Digital Carpathian Europe inaugurated together with GovTech KPRM, i.e. a program responsible for projection and implementation of digitalization among the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. The aim of the program is to increase the recognition and attractiveness of the region, to build awareness among residents and tourists, and to strengthen cooperation in the region, also within the framework of the European Union or Tri-Cities.