Agreement between the People’s Republic of Poland and the Federal Republic of Germany on the basis of normalization of their mutual relations from 1970 – remarks in the context of Bonn’s European and eastern policy

Abstract

The 50th anniversary of the Treaty between the People's Republic of Poland and the Federal Republic of Germany on the basis of the normalization of their mutual relations provides an opportunity to present a number of reflections, including remarks on the significance of this agreement for Bonn's foreign policy. The aim of the article is to reconstruct the relations and basic dependencies between Bonn's European policy (or, more broadly, the so-called Westbindung) and German eastern policy (Ostpolitik) and the Agreement as its element. The 1970 agreement has undoubtedly become one of the focal points in the process of changing, revising West German foreign policy at the turn of the 1960s and 1970s in its key dimensions. It has not only become a part of Germany's relations with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. It has also played a certain role and gained certain influence in the sphere of relations between the Bonn Republic and the countries of Western Europe and in the Euro-Atlantic context. Therefore, it seems that the presentation of a set of reflections devoted to this problem, especially in the light of the forthcoming anniversary of the PPR-FRG Agreement, is justified. The considerations below, in the light of the presented assumptions, include an indication of the central directions of West German foreign policy shaped after the end of the Second World War, a reconstruction of relations between Bonn's European policy and its Eastern policy, and an assessment of the Agreement itself and its significance from the perspective of Germany's position in European relations. The analyses were based mainly on (Polish and foreign) achievements of political, historical and legal sciences and relevant sources of law. At the same time, it should be noted that the presented considerations do not aspire to a comprehensive analysis of the signalized problem, but rather constitute a set of reflections devoted to its key mechanisms.