Donald Tusk was speaking after a meeting with the alliance’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, in Warsaw during his first visit to the Polish capital since taking office last month.
“Poland, not only owing to its geographical location but also thanks to its huge effort regarding the military equipment for its armed forces and its military spending, is becoming the foundation of NATO policy and NATO presence in this critical place at a critical time," Tusk was quoted by Poland’s state news agency, PAP, as saying.
The prime minister said the security ensured by NATO membership was very important to Poles and that he and Rutte shared a common view on the current geopolitical situation both globally and regionally, especially “on this burning border."
In reference to Poland’s East Shield program to reinforce its eastern frontier with Belarus and Russia, which also forms part of NATO’s eastern flank and the external border of the EU, Tusk said trans-Atlantic cooperation was key, another view the two men shared.
“Today, everything should be done to consolidate trans-Atlantic cooperation for security, and no external developments should harm this process," Tusk said, adding that in this regard, “you can count on Poland and the Polish government.”
Mark Rutte highlighted Poland’s “huge contribution to NATO” and its support for Ukraine and praised Warsaw’s defense spending, which he said was “building one of the biggest armies in NATO.”
On the issue of Ukraine, the secretary general said continued support was essential.
“We have to make sure that defense aid keeps flowing to Ukraine and that we are able to get them from a position where they are losing territory... that we are able to stabilize the front and then win back from the Russians what they have lost,” Rutte said.
Global security
Rutte told a joint press conference with Tusk that NATO countries’ priority must be to increase defense production capacity.
The NATO chief went on to describe North Korean soldiers fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine as “a dangerous new turn” in the war. But he pointed out that their presence “is not for free.”
He said Vladimir Putin was paying for their presence, not only financially but with weapons and know-how.
He added that Russia was providing missile technology to Pyongyang, which he said was a threat “not only to Europe but to South Korea, to Japan and the to the United States mainland.”
In global security terms, Rutte highlighted China’s role in aiding Russia’s war effort, as well as the participation of Iran.
“So more and more... the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific really have to be seen as one theater,” Rutte said. “Our security therefore now, more and more, is global.”
Increased spending
Following a subsequent meeting with Rutte, Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, said he was glad he and the NATO chief saw eye to eye on the need for higher defense spending.
Duda has repeatedly called for all NATO members to spend at least 3% of their GDP on defense. Poland will spend 4.2% this year and has slated 4.7% for 2025, making it the biggest per-GDP defense spender in the alliance.
Duda said on Wednesday, the hike in outlays was necessitated by the return of Russian imperialism.
“NATO must rise to this challenge in order to be truly ready for defense," he said.
The president echoed Rutte and Tusk’s sentiments on the importance of strong trans-Atlantic ties, describing the U.S. alliance as “of fundamental importance for our security."
In this context, Duda said he could not imagine U.S. President-elect Donald Trump allowing Ukraine to be destroyed after so much American money had been invested in it as Trump “very much respects American taxpayers’ money.”
On the prospect of providing Ukraine with Polish MiG -29 jet fighters, Duda said it would only be possible once Polish air space had been secured by NATO.
"If we are to hand over MIG-29 to Kyiv, we have one fundamental condition – our skies must be protected," he said.
He went on to say NATO would have to move fighter jets from other alliance members to Poland and other countries of the bloc’s eastern flank.
Duda also said that because the U.S. has invested so much in supporting Ukraine he couldn’t imagine that Trump would allow it to be destroyed.
He said: “President Donald Trump greatly respects the money of the American taxpayer, he has emphasized this many times.
“If we take into account how much the United States has already invested in helping Ukraine, how huge amounts have been transferred to the defenders of Ukraine in various formulas (...), then my conclusions are clear: I cannot imagine that President Donald Trump would allow Russia to destroy Ukraine.
“This is a matter of respect for the American taxpayer's money, but also a matter of America getting involved - and America is not losing.”
