"Today, in Paris, the Polish, French and German FMs talked about the situation in the EU neighbourhood, especially in Belarus, EU-Belarus relations and perspectives for reinforcing the Eastern Partnership (EaP)," the Polish foreign ministry said after the meeting.
"They also discussed transatlantic ties and relations between the European Union and China," it added.
The Eastern Partnership, an initiative by Poland and Sweden, was launched in 2009 to bring Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine closer to the EU.
The meeting, the first such get-together since 2016, came after the Polish and French top diplomats discussed a plan to revive cooperation as part of the Weimar Triangle when they spoke on the phone last month.
Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau told reporters after Thursday's talks that Poland, France and Germany shared a “very similar” view on the security and future of the EU and on a range of "key issues," state news agency PAP reported.
It also said that Rau invited his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian and Germany's Heiko Maas to visit Poland next year.
"Our stances on key issues for the EU's security and future are very similar," Rau said, as quoted by the Polish foreign ministry.
While in Paris on Thursday, Poland's Rau also held bilateral talks with his French counterpart.
The two discussed “the current state of Polish-French relations” and a range of business and security issues, according to the Polish foreign ministry.
Following his visit to Paris, Poland's Rau is scheduled to hold two-way talks with Germany's Maas in Berlin.
Poland and France earlier this year agreed to renew ties as part of the Weimar Triangle group, which also includes Germany.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at the time the Weimar Triangle, which brings together Poland, France and Germany, was “a very good format” because the three countries, after Britain’s exit from the European Union, represented 42 percent of the bloc’s population.
Speaking at a joint news conference with visiting French President Emmanuel Macron in Warsaw in February, Morawiecki said that the Weimar Triangle countries were like-minded or thinking along similar lines on a number of issues, including the need to strengthen European industries and develop new technology.
The Weimar Triangle group was set up by Poland, Germany and France in the early 1990s. In recent years, however, the initiative has lost much of its momentum, with the last summit of heads of state held more than seven years ago in Warsaw, public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency has reported.
While in Poland on a two-day visit before the start of the global coronavirus pandemic, France’s Macron proposed holding a new summit of the three countries’ leaders, saying that Warsaw, Paris and Berlin should take responsibility for the development of the European Union after Britain’s departure from the bloc, the IAR news agency reported.
(gs/pk)
Source: PAP, IAR
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