Wielonarodowy Korpus Północno-Wschodni w Szczecinie w systemie bezpieczeństwa europejskiego oraz stosunkach polsko-niemieckich (2007–2016)

The article is devoted to the development of Multinational Corps Northeast (MNC NE) in the second decade of its existence. The Corps, which is based in Szczecin, has been operating since 1999 as a part of NATO’s military structures. The Corps was created by three founding countries: Denmark, Germany and Poland. In accordance with the Convention of September 5th, 1998, the aim of the corps is to plan and carry out activities for the benefit of collective defense purposes under article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, as well as to participate in multinational missions and military operations. Between 2004 and 2015, the Corps was joined by other countries as “participating members”: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia (2004), Slovakia and the Czech Republic (2005), United States of America (2006), Romania (2008), Slovenia (2009), Croatia (2012), Hungary (2013), Sweden (2014), and the UK (2015). In the second half of 2015 the corps was extended with the representatives of the Armed Forces from Turkey, France, the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Finland. The Corps headquarters in Szczecin is organized according to NATO standards. It includes the Command Group (rotationally manned by personnel from Demark, Germany and Poland) and nine functional divisions. Military units that function under the authority of the Corps (70–100 thousand soldiers) are deployed in their bases in the founding states. Up until now, the soldiers from the Corps has participated in 3 ISAF missions in Afghanistan. Decisions to strengthen signifi cantly the force of the Corps were made on 4–5 September 2014 during the NATO Summit in Newport. During the summit, the founding states also decided to raise the level of combat readiness of the Corps. Since then, the Corps has been undergoing another transformation, the most important one since its inception. In NATO, it is assumed that at the end of 2016 the Corps will reach its full readiness to command various military formations of the Alliance, including: Very High Readiness Joint Task Force (VJTF), NATO Response Force (NRF), and also NATO Force Integration Units (NFIUs) from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland. This implies the need for further infrastructure development of the Corps and the increase of the scope of its responsibilities in the field of allied defense. This task was regarded as a priority before the next NATO Summit scheduled for 8–9 July 2016 in Warsaw.