Global security

Poland is a committed member of the international community and plays an active and multi-faceted role to improve global security. Poland has been involved in various peacekeeping and mediatory missions for a few dozen decades-under the UN flag and, since joining NATO and the European Union, also in missions and operations of those organisations. The priority areas of the operational engagement of Polish armed forces, officers and civilian experts are: countries of the Eastern Partnership (in particular as part of the EUMAM Ukraine, a military mission which aims to provide training to Ukraine's Armed Forces and enhance the country's defence capabilities; the EUMA, a civilian mission in Armenia; the EUMM Georgia and the EUPM Moldova) and of the Western Balkans (Polish soldiers and experts take part in the EUFOR ALTHEA military operation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the EU's civilian mission EULEX, and KFOR, NATO's stabilisation mission in Kosovo). Several hundred Polish soldiers and civil experts are simultaneously involved in various actions abroad for peace, recovery and development.

Given the scale of threats and the potential impact on the functioning of states and societies, the issues of hybrid threats and cybersecurity are rapidly gaining ground globally and becoming an integral part of international relations. Internationally, Poland supports measures to develop and implement norms of responsible state behaviour in cyberspace, apply to it the existing principles of international law, and work out confidence building measures between countries. We are placing emphasis on developing capabilities and coordinating activities within NATO and the EU with respect to cybersecurity and cyberdefence. We also cooperate with our NATO allies and EU partners for the prevention of, and resilience against, hybrid threats.

The civilian dimension of EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP)

The civilian dimension of EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is the EU’s course of external actions in the area of crisis management, based on art. 42 and art. 43 TEU. The majority of challenges for the EU and its member states in the contemporary international security environment calls for a civilian response. The civilian CSDP missions are the most visible EU action to support security in its neighbourhood.

On 19 November 2018, the Council of the EU and the member states, including Poland, adopted conclusions on the establishment of a Civilian Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) Compact. The agreed 22 political commitments aim at strengthening and improving the civilian CSDP that should adjust it to current challenges and changes in security environment. This should lead to a more effective and more coherent civilian CSDP. The Civilian CSDP Compact draws the attention to new security challenges that need to be tackled like those linked to irregular migration, hybrid threats, cyber security, terrorism and radicalisation, organised crime, border management and maritime security, preventing and countering violent extremism and protection of cultural heritage.

Civilian CSDP Compact is a part of the EU Global Strategy implementation process (2016 EUGS) in the area of common security and defence policy.

The commitments of the Civilian CSDP Compact include i. a.:

increasing contribution of EU’s member states to civilian missions (in the form of personnel, equipment, training, financial contributions);
review of national procedures, decision-making, financing and legislation related to participation of national experts in civilian CSDP missions aiming at increasing the number of civilian experts in CSDP missions;
developing trainings for EU’s experts, seconded to civilian missions of the EU, according to the CSDP standards;
the EU’s ability to launch a new mission of up to 200 personnel within 30 days after a Council decision.

The EU member states responsible for seconding civilian experts to EU’s civilian missions committed themselves to deliver on the Civilian CSDP Compact by early summer 2023 at the latest.

Each EU member state implements the commitments of the Civilian CSDP Compact on the basis of a national implementation plan. Polish national implementation plan was adopted by the Council of Ministers on 7 June 2020 under the title “Civilian CSDP Compact, National Implementation Plan – Poland”. NIP – Poland outlines a schedule of actions aiming at delivering the commitments resulting from the Civilian CSDP Compact. The course of action of the NIP – Poland was agreed by ministries (Ministry of the Interior and Administration, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Culture and National Heritage) and subordinated uniformed services (Police, Boarder Guard, Customs and Tax Control Service /as part of National Revenue Administration/, Prison Service).

The NIP-Poland focuses on processing improvements of the deployment system in all involved ministries and uniformed services, on strengthening communication on civilian CSDP, on enhancing inter-institutional cooperation and coordination, and on defining strategic goals of Polish engagement in civilian CSDP missions as short term activities. Drafting and implementing common standards and best practices supporting career-path/further professional development of experts for civilian CSDP missions, unifying trainings, exploring possibilities to broaden the civilian expert’s pool by including freelanced experts are the identified challenges for a long term implementation.

Delivering on actions of NIP – Poland aims at improving the national system of seconding experts to civilian missions and, as a result of it, increasing Polish participation in civilian missions of the EU. The implementation of the NIP – Poland is processed by ministries (see above) and uniformed services subordinated to them. Ministry of Foreign Affairs coordinates the implementation process.

NATO

For almost 70 years, NATO has remained the most important pillar of European security, providing an indispensable link between Europe and North America in the political and defence spheres. Thanks to successive waves of enlargement, 32 countries are now members of the North Atlantic Alliance.

With its constantly evolving military capabilities and structural flexibility, the Alliance is effectively adapting its resources and ways of acting to the evolving security challenges of its members.

The fundamental courses of NATO's action are set out in the Strategic Concept adopted in 2022. The Concept reflects changes in the Euro-Atlantic security environment following Russia's aggression against Ukraine. According to this document, the Alliance has three key missions:

1. collective defence resulting from Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, including effective deterrence;

2. crisis management to respond to a full spectrum of challenges based on a unique set of political and military capabilities;

3. cooperative security through a network of active partnerships with non-NATO countries and cooperation with other international organisations.

Defence against hybrid threats, cybersecurity, energy security, and new technologies have recently been gaining prominence on NATO’s agenda as well.

Poland’s involvement in NATO is focused on ensuring the effectiveness of the Alliance's deterrence and that NATO has all the means necessary to implement collective defence tasks in the face of growing military threats in the east and increasingly important hybrid threats.

An appropriate answer to these challenges is to improve the effectiveness of NATO’s command structure, as well as to significantly strengthen the eastern flank.

The last NATO summit in the Hague, in June 2025, brought decisions on increasing defense spending by Allies in light of the threat from Russia. Within 10 years (until 2035), this expenditures should reach 5% of GDP, of which at least 3.5% is to be spent on the military aspects of defence, and 1.5% on related issues such as civil resilience, cybersecurity or assistance to NATO partner countries, including Ukraine.

Poland is strongly involved in the cooperation of the countries of NATO's eastern flank on security policy and military issues.

Poland is also actively involved in multiple allied activities.

Since joining NATO, we have taken part in almost all allied operations, and Polish contingents have been among the most numerous in KFOR and ISAF missions, which were crucial for regional stability.

We are active where Allied security requires it – in the south or in the east, regularly patrolling the airspace of our Allies within the Air Policing mission, participating in NATO's military presence in Latvia and Romania.

Actively building political and economic stability around the Alliance through a network of partnerships and targeted assistance programmes is key to the Alliance's regional and global effectiveness. The Alliance also provides political and practical support to Ukraine. Poland is among the most committed Allies in promoting cooperation and reforms in partner countries such as Ukraine and Moldova and in the Western Balkans.

We also believe that the Alliance should remain open to the membership of countries capable of meeting the established criteria and actively support aspiring countries in their reforms. We see it as crucial to strengthen cooperation with the EU, especially in the fight against hybrid threats, in the field of building resilience and in the development of the defence industry.

For Poland, NATO membership also means that we are constantly strengthening our own defence capabilities. Poland is constantly improving the quality of its armed forces and making a significant contribution to the implementation of allied tasks in the field of collective defence and crisis response, regardless of the direction and nature of the threats. This is also reflected in the location of the following NATO structures in our country:

the Multinational Corps North-East in Szczecin, the NATO Joint Force Training Centre in Bydgoszcz (JFTC), the Communications and Information Agency CIS Support Unit in Bydgoszcz, the Command of 3rd NATO Signal Battalion in Bydgoszcz, the NATO Military Police Centre of Excellence in Bydgoszcz, the NATO Force Integration Unit in Bydgoszcz, the NATO Counter Intelligence Centre of Excellence in Krakow and the Command of the Multinational Division Northeast in Elbląg.