Europe must increase its defence capabilities fast, says Tusk
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said that Poland would continue its strategy of increasing defence capabilities, and the rest of the European Union (EU) should follow suit.
Tusk, speaking prior to a cabinet meeting held on Tuesday in Warsaw, said that the current geopolitical situation was "a real challenge, perhaps the greatest one in terms of security over the past few decades".
"We (Poland - PAP) shall continue our strategy (of increasing defence capabilities - PAP) which is also a framework for the whole European Union," Tusk said. "Not only because currently we hold the EU presidency, but because it was us who pointed at security as the obvious priority of all European policies at the moment," he said, adding that nothing would change Poland's determination in this respect.
Tusk also said that Europe should maximise its defence capabilities, while at the same time cultivate "in all circumstances" the relations with its biggest ally, the United States.
Before the meeting Tusk mentioned that he, and other EU and state leaders, had received a letter from President of European Commission Ursula von der Leyen containing a five-point plan aimed to boost Europe's defence spending. The plan will be discussed on Thursday at the upcoming extraordinary EU summit in Brussels.
According to Tusk, one of the proposals entails assigning EUR 150 billion from the EU's budget to provide loans that would finance the strengthening of Europe's defence and the expansion of its defence industry.
Tusk added that Poland's proposal to exclude defence spending from the EU's excessive deficit procedure was also mentioned in von der Leyen's letter.
The latter was for "countries like Poland which decide to spend bigger sums on defence, increasing their budget deficit as a result... not to be punished... by European procedures or institutions," Tusk explained, hoping that the EU would eventually adopt this solution. (PAP)
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