The "Weimar Triangle" is, loosely, a grouping of
France,
Germany, and
Poland. The group is intended to promote co-operation between the three countries in crisis zones.
It exists mostly in the form of
summit meetings between the leaders of these three countries, and of their foreign ministers. The most recent summit of leaders occurred in Berlin on 8 February 2022. Previous meetings took place in Warsaw (2011),
Poznań, Poland (1998),
Nancy, France (1999),
Hambach, Germany (2001) and Nancy, France (2005). The summits of
Foreign Ministers
A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...
have been more regular, running at least through 2016.
At the 2011 summit hosted by President
Bronisław Komorowski
Bronisław Maria Komorowski (; born 4 June 1952) is a Polish politician and historian who served as President of Poland from 2010 to 2015.
Komorowski served as Minister of Defence from 2000 to 2001. As Marshal of the Sejm, Komorowski exercised ...
of Poland and attended by President
Nicolas Sarkozy (France) and Chancellor
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Opp ...
(Germany), the heads of state discussed issues of renewing regular Weimar Triangle meetings, the Egyptian situation and improving relations with Russia (among other topics). Both Germany and France urged Poland to join the pact for competitiveness.
History
The Weimar Triangle was established in the German city of
Weimar in 1991, aimed at assisting Poland's emergence from
Communist rule. Attending the meeting were the Foreign Ministers of each state:
Roland Dumas
Roland Dumas (; born 23 August 1922) is a French lawyer and Socialist politician who served as Foreign Minister under President François Mitterrand from 1984 to 1986 and from 1988 to 1993. He was also President of the Constitutional Council ...
of France,
Hans-Dietrich Genscher
Hans-Dietrich Genscher (21 March 1927 – 31 March 2016) was a German statesman and a member of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), who served as Federal Minister of the Interior from 1969 to 1974, and as Federal Minister for Foreign Affa ...
of Germany, and
Krzysztof Skubiszewski
Krzysztof Jan Skubiszewski (8 October 1926 – 8 February 2010) was a Polish politician, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs (1989–1993) and an established scholar in the field of international law.
Early life and education
Skubiszewski ...
of Poland. Genscher chose Weimar for the inaugural meeting because it was situated in former East Germany.
[Sarah Helm (23 May 1996)]
'Weimar Triangle' takes shape for power
'' The Independent''.
At the 1992 meeting of the Weimar Triangle in France, Poland won agreement from Germany and France that it should have special association status at the
Western European Union, the European arm of
NATO.
On 5 July 2011, France, Germany, and Poland signed an agreement in Brussels to put together a unit of 1,700 soldiers, called the
Weimar Battlegroup, that will be ready to deploy in crisis zones starting in 2013. The EU business newsletter reports that Poland will command the group, providing the core combat troops and a mechanised battalion, Germany will provide logistical support, and France will contribute medical support. The operational command centre will be based in Mont Valerien, located in a Paris suburb.
[AFP]
Germany, France and Poland form EU battlegroup
EUbusiness. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
Shortly after the
referendum on the status of
Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a po ...
held on 16 March 2014, the chairpersons of the Weimar Triangle parliament's committees on foreign affairs –
Elisabeth Guigou
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
of
France,
Norbert Röttgen
Norbert Alois Röttgen (born 2 July 1965) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He was Federal Minister for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel f ...
of
Germany and
Grzegorz Schetyna
Grzegorz Juliusz Schetyna () (born 18 February 1963) is a Polish politician who has been Leader of Civic Platform and Leader of the Opposition from 26 January 2016 to 25 January 2020. He has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland from ...
of
Poland – visited Kyiv to express their countries’ firm support of the territorial integrity and the European integration of
Ukraine. This was the first time that parliamentarians of the Weimar Triangle had ever made a joint trip to a third country.
In April 2016, Poland's foreign minister
Witold Waszczykowski
Witold Jan Waszczykowski (; born 5 May 1957) is a Polish politician. He was the Minister of Foreign Affairs between 2015 and 2018. Waszczykowski was a Member of the Sejm (2011–2019), and has been the Member of the European Parliament since 2019 ...
told daily newspaper ''
Gazeta Wyborcza'' that the Weimar Triangle had lost its relevance for his country.
On 28 August 2016, representatives of the three countries vowed to "reinvigorate" the Weimar Triangle. German foreign minister
Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Frank-Walter Steinmeier (; born 5 January 1956) is a German politician serving as President of Germany since 19 March 2017. He was previously Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2009 and again from 2013 to 2017, as well as Vice Chan ...
said the group would meet before the end of 2016, and French foreign minister
Jean-Marc Ayrault
Jean-Marc Ayrault (; born 25 January 1950) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 15 May 2012 to 31 March 2014. He later was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2016 to 2017. He previously was Mayor of Nantes from 1989 t ...
said France would host a summit in November 2016. The stated reasoning for this reinvigoration were the
decision of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, as well as the ongoing
European migrant crisis.
On 8 February 2022, the meeting between Presidents
Emmanuel Macron,
Andrzej Duda
Andrzej Sebastian Duda (; born 16 May 1972) is a Polish lawyer and politician who has served as president of Poland since 6 August 2015. Before becoming president, Andrzej Duda was a member of Polish Lower House ( Sejm) from 2011 to 2014 and th ...
and Chancellor
Olaf Scholz
Olaf Scholz (; born ) is a German politician who has served as the chancellor of Germany since 8 December 2021. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as Vice Chancellor under Angela Merkel and as Federal Minister ...
took place in Berlin to discuss security cooperation in the face of the ongoing
Russo-Ukrainian crisis. This was the first such trilateral meeting between the three heads of states in many years and was seen as a step towards strengthening the Weimar Triangle format. At a joint press conference President Duda appealed for unity among European leaders saying that "We must show that we speak in one voice". The German Chancellor stressed that any violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and
territorial integrity
Territorial integrity is the principle under international law that gives the right to sovereign states to defend their borders and all territory in them of another state. It is enshrined in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter and has been recognized ...
was "unacceptable" and would have "far-reaching consequences for Russia in political, economic and geo-strategic dimensions" while President Macron reinforced France's determination to use diplomatic efforts which he said were "the only path to end the conflict around Ukraine."
Summits of foreign ministers
# 28–29 August 1991 in
Weimar, Germany
# 23–24 April 1992 in
Bergerac, France
# 11–12 November 1993 in
Warsaw, Poland
# 14–15 September 1994 in
Bamberg
Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main. The town dates back to the 9th century, when its name was derived from the nearby ' castle. C ...
, Germany
# 26 October 1995 in
Paris, France
# 19 December 1996 in
Warsaw, Poland
# 19 November 1997 in
Frankfurt/Oder
Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...
, Germany
# 6 January 1999 in
Paris, France
# 30 August 1999 in
Weimar, Germany
# 7 June 2000 in
Kraków, Poland
# 16 January 2002 in
Paris, France
# 15 May 2004 in
Berlin, Germany
# 27 June 2005 in
Nancy, France
# 2005 in
Warsaw, Poland
# June 2008 in
Paris, France
# June 2009 in
Weimar, Germany
# 26–27 April 2010 in
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr ...
, Germany
# 20 May 2011 in
Bydgoszcz
Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...
, Poland
# 29 February 2012 in
Berlin, Germany
# 23 June 2012 in
Warsaw, Poland
# 31 March-1 April 2014 in
Berlin and
Weimar, Germany
# 3 April 2015 in
Wrocław, Poland
# 28–29 August 2016 in
Weimar and
Berlin, Germany
# 15 October 2020 in
Paris, France
# 10 September 2021 in
Weimar, Germany
# 1 March 2022 in
Łódź, Poland
Summits of heads of state
# 21 September 1993 in
Gdańsk, Poland
# 21 February 1998 in
Poznań, Poland
# 7 May 1999 in
Nancy, France
# 27 February 2001 in
Hambach, Germany.
# 9 May 2003 in
Wrocław, Poland. Held a few days before the referendum on the entry of Poland in the European Union.
# 19 May 2005 in Nancy, France
# 5 December 2006 in
Mettlach
Mettlach (Saarlandic dialect:Mettlich) is a municipality in the district Merzig-Wadern, in Saarland, Germany, situated on the river Saar, approximately northwest of Merzig, and south of Trier. The headquarters of Villeroy & Boch are in Mettlac ...
, Germany
# 7 February 2011 in
Warsaw, Poland
# 6 March 2013 in
Warsaw, Poland. The meeting of leaders of Weimar Triangle and
Visegrád Group
# 8 February 2022 in
Berlin, Germany. The meeting of President
Emmanuel Macron, President
Andrzej Duda
Andrzej Sebastian Duda (; born 16 May 1972) is a Polish lawyer and politician who has served as president of Poland since 6 August 2015. Before becoming president, Andrzej Duda was a member of Polish Lower House ( Sejm) from 2011 to 2014 and th ...
and Chancellor
Olaf Scholz
Olaf Scholz (; born ) is a German politician who has served as the chancellor of Germany since 8 December 2021. A member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), he previously served as Vice Chancellor under Angela Merkel and as Federal Minister ...
was focused on the
threat to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity from
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eight ...
.
Summit on 3 July 2006 in Weimar, Germany was postponed due to alleged indisposition of the Polish president
Lech Kaczyński.
Summits of Defence Ministers
# 25 July 2006 in
Wieliczka, Poland
# 18 December 2007 in
Berlin, Germany
In March 2015, Germany's
Minister of Defence
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in so ...
Ursula von der Leyen
Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; Albrecht, born 8 October 1958) is a German politician who has been serving as the president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the German federal government between 2005 and 2019, holding suc ...
hosted her counterparts
Jean-Yves Le Drian
Jean-Yves Le Drian (; born 30 June 1947) is a French politician who served as Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs in the governments of Prime Ministers Édouard Philippe and Jean Castex (2017–2022) and as Minister of Defence under Preside ...
of
France and
Tomasz Siemoniak
Tomasz Siemoniak (born 2 July 1967) is a Polish politician, Minister of National Defence from 2 August 2011 to 16 November 2015 and Deputy Prime Minister of Poland from 22 September 2014 to 16 November 2015.
Early life and education
Siemoniak ...
of
Poland to revive a meeting format intended to promote co-operation between the three countries in crisis zones; it was the first meeting between the Weimar Triangle defence ministers since 2007.
Summits of Ministers of European Affairs
# 30 September 2015 in
Paris, France
In January 2020, the ministers of European Affairs met again in Paris, where they discussed among other things the
rule of law and the 10-year
EU budget. They also visited a special painting exhibit about Poland's history at
The Louvre.
Joint meetings of the Committees on European Affairs
# 14 November 2014 in
Berlin, Germany
# 2013 in
Gdańsk, Poland
# 2012 in
Paris, France
See also
*
Visegrád Group
*
Benelux
The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in western Europe: ...
*
Lublin Triangle
The Lublin Triangle ( lt, Liublino trikampis; pl, Trójkąt Lubelski; uk, Люблінський трикутник, Liublinskyi trykutnyk) is a regional alliance of three European countriesLithuania, Poland, and Ukrainefor the purposes of s ...
Weimarer Dreieck - Komitee zur Förderung der Deutsch-Französisch-Polnischen Zusammenarbeit e.V.
References
{{Authority control
Organizations established in 1991
Politics of Europe
France–Poland relations
Germany–Poland relations
France–Germany relations
History of Weimar
Bottom-up regional groups within the European Union