The Difficult Road to the Polish-Lithuanian Treaty – an Attempt at a Summary

Abstract

At the beginning of the 1990s, the Republic of Poland and the newly revived Republic of Lithuania found themselves in a new geopolitical space. Democratic post-political forces following the western value system came to power in both countries. Both countries made an effort to regulate the Polish-Lithuanian relations. In both countries, there were voices referring to the evaluation of historical events. In the new reality, the Polish side created a new political-legal model of bilateral agreements with neighbouring states by Prof. Krzysztof Skubiszewski, the Minister of the Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, called the Treaty on Friendly Relations and Good- ‑Neighbourly Cooperation. It already contained new European solutions in state relations, as well as European legal norms and for national minorities, in this case for the Polish and the Lithuanian living in both countries.

The Polish-Lithuanian Treaty was the last of this group, adopted on 26 April 1994 in Vilnius. Before it was signed by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the Presidents of the two countries and ratified by the parliaments of the Republic of Lithuania and the Republic of Poland, there were a number of shifts and tensions in the new Lithuanian- Polish relations. In 2024, it will be 30 years since this Treaty was signed. This significant anniversary is an opportunity to take a fresh look at the circumstances of the creation, negotiation and adoption of the Treaty by the two neighbouring countries, and to take stock of the implementation of its objectives.