Polish Sejm suspended actions of Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe
Photo: The Polish Sejm suspended the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (GettyImages)
Poland has suspended its participation in the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE). The majority of the parliament voted in favor of this decision, according to TVN24.
On Friday, March 8, the Sejm adopted an act aimed at terminating the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, signed in 1990 between NATO and the Warsaw Pact countries. The suspension of the treaty was announced in November 2023 by NATO countries due to Russia's armed and aggressive policies.
On Thursday, the bill was supported by 435 deputies, with 5 opposing and no abstentions.
Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe
The Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) was signed on November 19, 1990, in Paris by authorized representatives of sixteen NATO member states and six member states of the Warsaw Pact. The treaty entered into force on November 9, 1992.
In 1999, at the OSCE summit in Istanbul, a revised version of the CFE Treaty was signed, taking into account new conditions such as the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact and the expansion of NATO.
It envisioned a transition from the bloc structure of the treaty to national and territorial levels of arms and equipment for each participating state. The Adapted CFE Agreement was not ratified by any NATO country and did not come into effect.
Final withdrawal of Russia from the Treaty
Russia's participation in the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) was terminated back in 2007. As of 00:00 on November 7, 2023, as announced by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "the prescribed CFE procedure for Russia's withdrawal from this Treaty has been completed."
In light of this decision, NATO has also chosen to cease the implementation of the Treaty.
