Tusk to meet allies to talk Ukraine in 'new political landscape'

2024-11-09 18:45 update: 2024-11-11, 12:56
Photo PAP/Radek Pietruszka
Photo PAP/Radek Pietruszka
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said that he will meet Europe's leaders to discuss the Ukraine war in the new geopolitical and transatlantic situation after Donald Trump's US election victory.

At a Saturday press conference, Tusk reported on the talks held at the EU summit in Budapest on Thursday and Friday. 

He said that "everyone, without exception", including the Turkish president, the UK prime minister and EU leaders, wants to take greater responsibility for maintaining good transatlantic relations, regardless of the mood in which they accepted the election results.

But, Tusk added, "this new political landscape is a serious challenge for everyone, especially in the context of a possible end to the Russian-Ukrainian war as a result of an agreement, for example, between the president of Russia and the new president of the United States" and "there was a lot of talk about this as a possible scenario, in the months to come."

Therefore, he said, Poland in the coming days will "very intensively coordinate cooperation with countries that have a very similar view on the geopolitical and transatlantic situation and situation in Ukraine." 

Tusk announced that the French President Emmanuel Macron and NATO head Mark Rutte were expected to visit Warsaw soon, that he would meet British Prime Minister Keir Starmer either in Warsaw or in London and that he would also travel to Stockholm to meet Nordic and Baltic leaders there.

"All in the context of new challenges facing our country, the whole region, the European Union and the Western community," he said.

Tusk added that he had already talked with Macron, Starmer and Scandinavian leaders "what this potential withdrawal of the United States from active policy in Ukraine means for us."

"Nobody wants the conflict to escalate... and at the same time, nobody wants Ukraine to weaken or even capitulate, this would be a fundamental threat to Poland and Polish interests," he said. (PAP)
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