{ "id": "R44212", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "R44212", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 450754, "date": "2016-03-11", "retrieved": "2016-03-24T16:55:39.914492", "title": "Poland and Its Relations with the United States", "summary": "Over the past 25 years, the relationship between the United States and Poland has been close and cooperative. The United States strongly supported Poland\u2019s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1999 and backed its entry into the European Union (EU) in 2004. In recent years, Poland has made significant contributions to U.S.- and NATO-led military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Poland and the United States continue working together on issues such as democracy promotion, counterterrorism, and improving NATO capabilities. \nGiven its role as a close U.S. ally and partner, developments in Poland and its relations with the United States are of continuing interest to the U.S. Congress. This report provides an overview and assessment of some of the main dimensions of these topics.\nDomestic Political and Economic Issues\nThe Polish parliamentary election held on October 25, 2015, resulted in a victory for the conservative Law and Justice Party. Law and Justice won an absolute majority of seats in the lower house of parliament (Sejm), and Beata Szydlo took over as the country\u2019s new prime minister in November 2015. The center-right Civic Platform party had previously led the government of Poland since 2007. During its first months in office, Law and Justice has made changes to the country\u2019s Constitutional Tribunal and media law that have generated concerns about backsliding on democracy and triggered an EU rule-of-law investigation. \nLaw and Justice had earlier gained momentum with the surprising victory of Andrzej Duda in the May 2015 presidential election. The president is Poland\u2019s head of state and exercises a number of limited but important functions. Duda was inaugurated as president of Poland in August 2015.\nPoland was one of the few EU economies to come through the 2008-2009 global economic crisis and the subsequent Eurozone debt crisis without major damage. Although Poland is obligated to adopt the euro as its currency at the earliest possible time, it has not yet set a target date for adoption and continues to use the zoty as its national currency. \nThe Civic Platform-led government voted in September 2015 to approve the EU\u2019s relocation plan for 120,000 migrants, agreeing to take in more than 4,000 migrants currently in Greece and Italy. Following the Paris terrorist attacks in November 2015, the new Polish government indicated that it would no longer implement the plan. \nDefense Modernization\nPoland has been implementing an Armed Forces Technical Modernization Plan for the years 2013-2022 in which it intends to spend approximately $35 billion on a wide range of military equipment acquisitions and upgrades. Completed and prospective purchases from U.S. suppliers have a large role in this initiative. Poland increased its defense budget in 2015 and 2016. \nDefense Cooperation\nUnder the Obama Administration\u2019s European Reassurance Initiative and the U.S. military\u2019s Operation Atlantic Resolve, U.S. forces have expanded their presence in Poland and increased joint training and exercises with their Polish counterparts. Some Polish leaders have expressed a wish for the establishment of permanent bases for NATO and U.S. troops on Polish territory. \nVisa Waiver Program\nAlthough relations between Poland and the United States are largely positive, Poland\u2019s exclusion from the U.S. Visa Waiver Program (VWP) has been a sore spot for many years. Some Members of Congress have long advocated extending the VWP to include Poland.\nRelations with Russia \nRelations between Poland and Russia have a history of tensions, and Polish leaders have tended to view Russian intentions with wariness and suspicion. Poland has been a leading advocate for forceful EU sanctions against Russia over its 2014 annexation of Crimea and subsequent role in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Retaliatory Russian sanctions have negatively affected Poland economically, particularly in the agriculture sector. \nEnergy Security\nPoland has been a leading advocate of European energy integration, promoting initiatives to expand pipeline interconnectivity in order to decrease reliance on Russia. Although Poland imports more than half of its natural gas from Russia, approximately 90% of Poland\u2019s electricity is generated by coal, and its overall dependence on energy imports is low.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R44212", "sha1": "14e67a65e272fcb9d94a2c835ce2c75d8f681f55", "filename": "files/20160311_R44212_14e67a65e272fcb9d94a2c835ce2c75d8f681f55.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R44212", "sha1": "54b6c0557e1fab9674490afb2c155c59fbfdb427", "filename": "files/20160311_R44212_54b6c0557e1fab9674490afb2c155c59fbfdb427.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc847642/", "id": "R44212_2016Mar07", "date": "2016-03-07", "retrieved": "2016-06-02T05:26:07", "title": "Poland and Its Relations with the United States", "summary": "Given its role as a close U.S. ally and partner, developments in Poland and its relations with the United States are of continuing interest to the U.S. Congress. This report provides an overview and assessment of some of the main dimensions of these topics.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20160307_R44212_f81ea06275cd1f1d754b8cdda92acd978c540292.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20160307_R44212_f81ea06275cd1f1d754b8cdda92acd978c540292.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Foreign policy", "name": "Foreign policy" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Foreign relations -- U.S. -- Poland", "name": "Foreign relations -- U.S. -- Poland" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Foreign relations -- Poland -- U.S.", "name": "Foreign relations -- Poland -- U.S." }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Politics and government -- Poland", "name": "Politics and government -- Poland" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc795835/", "id": "R44212_2015Nov17", "date": "2015-11-17", "retrieved": "2016-01-13T14:26:20", "title": "Poland and Its Relations with the United States: In Brief", "summary": "This report provides an overview and assessment of the relationship between the Untied States and Poland over the last 25 years, including developmentents in Poland that are of interest to the U.S. Congress.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20151117_R44212_eb2f7da41e4e78112d2f13fb708e84a6282e1290.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20151117_R44212_eb2f7da41e4e78112d2f13fb708e84a6282e1290.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Foreign policy", "name": "Foreign policy" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Foreign relations -- U.S. -- Poland", "name": "Foreign relations -- U.S. -- Poland" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Foreign relations -- Poland -- U.S.", "name": "Foreign relations -- Poland -- U.S." }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Politics and government -- Poland", "name": "Politics and government -- Poland" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc795418/", "id": "R44212_2015Sep30", "date": "2015-09-30", "retrieved": "2016-01-13T14:26:20", "title": "Poland and Its Relations with the United States: In Brief", "summary": "This report provides an overview and assessment of some of the main dimensions of the topic of developments in Poland and its relations with the United States, which are of continuing interest to the U.S. Congress.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20150930_R44212_a1329c8673d7ab271de5a2ae19dc687628f93d76.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20150930_R44212_a1329c8673d7ab271de5a2ae19dc687628f93d76.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Foreign policy", "name": "Foreign policy" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Foreign relations -- U.S. -- Poland", "name": "Foreign relations -- U.S. -- Poland" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Foreign relations -- Poland -- U.S.", "name": "Foreign relations -- Poland -- U.S." }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Politics and government -- Poland", "name": "Politics and government -- Poland" } ] } ], "topics": [ "Constitutional Questions", "European Affairs", "Foreign Affairs", "National Defense" ] }