Poland’s Rise as Ukraine’s Top Ally

The New European Markets (NEM) conference held in Dubrovnik, Croatia, earlier this month, attracted hundreds of entrepreneurs from across eastern Europe. Though there were diverse business topics discussed, one commonality held them together: Eastern Europe’s role in the region is expanding.

The Director of TVP World, Poland’s government news service in English, Filip Styczynski, told the Kyiv Post that he sees the rise of Poland as being logical, as it is “the largest and strongest country on NATO's eastern flank,” noting that in the course of the war in Ukraine, “Poland has become a refuge for more than 2 million Ukrainians and there is not a single refugee camp. Since the beginning of the war, we have sided with the Ukrainian people and internationally oppose the rotten compromises against the Russian terrorist state.”

The war has highlighted Poland’s role, and that contributes to why TVP World is the fastest growing English language channel as it provides “news from across the [Central European] region,” which has been “characterized by freshness and lack of political correctness.” 

But are there other signs, outside of the context of the war, that Poland’s role in the region is growing? Styczynski says that the “Polish economy is also getting stronger every year. All this makes the position of our country grow and it is increasingly said that the center of gravity in Europe has shifted to Warsaw.”

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Michał Kujawski, the Head of Current Affairs at TVP World, says he agrees as “Despite complicated history, partitions and wars, over 1,000 years old Polish state tradition made the country resilient, creative and truly unique itself. Recently Poland accounted for one percent of the world’s total GDP. The country’s implementation of small modular reactors as well as the large ones and military investments will guarantee energy security and stability to the region. These all make Poland not only the entire Central-Eastern Europe leader but also its ambassador to the world.”

For those attending the conference, there was a strong sense that the role of Poland, like that of Central Europe, will only grow in the years to come.