Relationship dossier
Czech Republic
Poland
Relationship assessment
Sustained Czech-Polish cooperation, tempered by a significant but settled dispute over the Turów coal mine.
Czech Republic toward Poland
+35The Czech government has pursued bilateral cooperation with Poland through government consultations and cross-border arrangements. It also brought a case against Poland over the Turów coal mine, then withdrew it after the governments reached a settlement in 2022.
Poland toward Czech Republic
+35The Polish government has engaged in bilateral consultations and cross-border cooperation with Czechia. It negotiated a settlement with the Czech government in 2022 over the Turów coal mine dispute.
Overall relationship
+35The relationship combines sustained bilateral and cross-border cooperation with close coordination in European and security institutions. The Turów dispute was a serious source of friction, but the governments reached a settlement in 2022, leaving cooperation as a prominent feature of the bilateral relationship.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
Czechia and Poland maintain sustained cooperation through bilateral consultations and practical cross-border arrangements, alongside close coordination as EU and NATO members. Their relationship has also included a serious dispute over the Turów coal mine, which the governments settled in 2022. Cooperation is substantial, though the dispute shows that important bilateral disagreements can arise.
Areas of tension
- The Czech-Polish dispute over the environmental and cross-border effects of Poland's Turów coal mine.
Key developments
The governments reached a settlement over the Turów coal mine dispute, after which Czechia withdrew its case against Poland.
Czechia and Poland established a treaty framework for good-neighborly relations and cooperation.
Major uncertainties
- The scope and regularity of recent bilateral consultations are unclear.
- The implementation and longer-term effects of the Turów settlement are unclear.