Greece–Poland relations

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Greek-Polish relations
Map indicating locations of Greece and Poland

Greece
Poland

Greek-Polish relations are relations between Greece and Poland. Both countries are full members of the European Union, OECD, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and NATO. There are circa 4,000 people of Greek descent living in Poland, and over 20,000 people of Polish descent living in Greece.[1]

History[]

Since antiquity there have been direct and indirect contact between Greece and Poland. Historic Greek cities in present-day Ukraine had contacts with the people of Poland.[2] During the Middle Ages Polish authors, politicians and philosophers were influenced by Greek literature, democracy and sense of freedom.[3] Greeks, many of whom were merchants, lived in Poland since the Late Middle Ages (see Greeks in Poland).

Since the 19th century both nations often shared a similar fate, and their history has sometimes intertwined. In the 19th century both were under the rule of foreign powers. Greece was ruled by the Ottoman Empire, and Poland was partitioned between Austria, Prussia (afterwards Germany) and Russia. Greece eventually regained independence during the Greek War of Independence in the 1820s, in which Polish volunteers also fought on the side of the Greeks, including the Battle of Peta[4] and the defense of Missolonghi.[5] Several Polish 19th-century uprisings remained unsuccessful, and Poland regained independence only after World War I in 1918. In 1919 both countries officially established diplomatic relations. Both nations exchanged ambassadors in 1922.[6] In 1937–1939, both ethnic Poles and Greeks in the Soviet Union were subjected to genocidal campaigns carried out by the NKVD, known as the Polish Operation and the Greek Operation respectively. Both countries were invaded and occupied during World War II — Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union, and Greece by Germany and Italy. Jerzy Iwanow-Szajnowicz, a native of Poland who worked for Polish and British intelligence in occupied Greece, became a hero of the Greek resistance, commemorated with a monument in Thessaloniki.[7] In 1946, Greece entered into a civil war which saw over 14,000 Greeks migrate and find refuge in Poland after the communists in Greece were defeated in 1949. The Greeks settled predominantly in the Polish cities and towns of Zgorzelec, Wrocław,[8] Bielawa, Bielsko-Biała, Dzierżoniów, Gdynia, Jelenia Góra, Katowice, Kraków (in the Nowa Huta district), Legnica, Lubań, Niemcza, Szczecin, Świdnica, Wałbrzych and Warsaw.[9]

In 1981, Greece joined the European Union. Poland joined the union in 2004. Since Polish ascension into the union, over 20,000 Poles have migrated to Greece for employment, however, since the Greek government-debt crisis beginning in 2009, many Poles have returned and many Greeks have migrated to Poland in search of employment.[10]

A Polish military contingent participated in a NATO mission to assist Greece in ensuring security during the 2004 Summer Olympics.[11]

In February 2021, the Sejm (Polish parliament) adopted by acclamation a resolution commemorating the 200th anniversary of the Greek War of Independence, after which Greece regained its sovereignty.[12]

In August 2021, Poland sent a group of 143 firefighters and 46 vehicles to Greece to help extinguish the 2021 Greece wildfires.[13] During the operation, Polish firefighters saved the town of Vilia from the fire.[13]

High-level visits[]

Prime Minister of Greece George Papandreou and Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk in Greece in 2009

High-level visits from Greece to Poland

High-level visits from Poland to Greece[14]

  • President Aleksander Kwaśniewski (2003)
  • Prime Minister Leszek Miller (2003)
  • Prime Minister Donald Tusk (2009)
  • President Andrzej Duda (2017)

Bilateral Treaties[15][]

  • Memorandum of Mutual Understanding on Cooperation in the Defence Industry (Warsaw, June 29, 2004),
  • Agreement on economic, scientific, and technical cooperation in Agriculture and Food Economics (Athens, September 7, 1995),
  • Agreement on Cooperation in Science and Technology (Warsaw, November 9, 1998)
  • Agreement on the avoidance of double taxation (May 28, 1987).

Transportation[]

There are direct flights between Greece and Poland with the following airlines: Aegean Airlines, Ryan Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Small Planet Airlines, SmartWings and Wizz Air.

Resident diplomatic missions[]

  • Greece has an embassy in Warsaw.[16]
  • Poland has an embassy in Athens.[17]

  • Embassy of Greece in Warsaw

  • Embassy of Poland in Athens

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Polish immigrants in Greece
  2. ^ The ancient Greeks in Ukraine
  3. ^ A Handbook to Classical Reception in Eastern and Central Europe
  4. ^ "Poles in the Battle of Peta". Gov.pl website. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  5. ^ "Udział Polaków w obronie miasta Messolongi". Portal Gov.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  6. ^ Greece's Bilateral Relations: Poland
  7. ^ Waldemar Kowalski. "Śmierć Jerzego Iwanowa-Szajnowicza, bohatera greckiego ruchu oporu". Muzeum Historii Polski (in Polish). Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  8. ^ Light shed on Greece and Poland’s entwined past
  9. ^ Kubasiewicz, Izabela (2013). "Emigranci z Grecji w Polsce Ludowej. Wybrane aspekty z życia mniejszości". In Dworaczek, Kamil; Kamiński, Łukasz (eds.). Letnia Szkoła Historii Najnowszej 2012. Referaty (in Polish). Warszawa: IPN. pp. 117–118.
  10. ^ “But why Poland?”: The Greek Cracovians
  11. ^ "NATO begins security assistance for 2004 Olympics". nato.int. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  12. ^ "Uchwała Sejmu ws. upamiętnienia 200. rocznicy Powstania Greckiego". sejm.gov.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  13. ^ a b "Another group of Polish firefighters set to go to Greece". TVP World. Retrieved 23 December 2021.
  14. ^ Poland has signed the Accession Treaty
  15. ^ Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the relation with Poland
  16. ^ Embassy of Greece in Warsaw
  17. ^ Embassy of Poland in Athens
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