Germany should take more leadership to defend Europe’s Eastern border, says Poland’s Tusk

2 months ago 24

Germany should take more responsibility for the security of the EU’s eastern border, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk told his German counterpart Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday (2 July) as the two leaders met for the first intergovernmental talks in six years.

“Germany must be a leading country in reference to European and Polish security,” Tusk told reporters in Warsaw.

Speaking alongside Scholz after the joint talks, Tusk said that he was pleased to hear from Scholz, that Germany was ready to take responsibility for the protection of the EU’s eastern borders along with other EU member states.

His comments came as EU leaders struggle to find a common ground on the future of European defence efforts. The two leaders discussed the role of Berlin in providing security for the continent, including the EU’s eastern flank.

Poland, jointly with the Baltics, last week pitched a large-scale programme of strengthening Poland’s border with Belarus and Russia.

“Our project called Shield East, together with the Baltic states, is an infrastructural one, which is designed to bolster the security of the European border,” said Tusk.

“There is no doubt that it is also in the interest of the German state for the border to be protected effectively, and that Poland, Germany and Europe were safe, in case of aggression on the eastern border,” he added.

Not all about the money

But as EU leaders discussed European strategic cooperation during last week’s summit, disagreements emerged over the common financing of security projects. These include the defence line along the EU eastern border, proposed by Tusk and his Baltic counterparts last week, or an EU air defence system similar to the Israeli Iron Dome.

France was sceptical, while Germany and the Netherlands largely oppose using Eurobonds for the joint defence initiatives, the Polish leader noted on Tuesday.

Scholz told reporters after last week’s summit that it was a priority of Germany to tone down proposals on a joint EU debt, such as defence bonds, and the EU’s budget spending for defence funding, from the bloc’s strategic agenda for the next five years.

“Defence is a competence of the EU member states. As per the treaties, the EU is not there for funding armament,” he said.

Regarding a Polish-Baltic proposal to fund better military border protection with EU means, he said that “refinancing necessary national defence efforts through means of the EU (…) has not been possible so far and will definitely not be possible in the future based on our treaties.”

“The 2% target that we are all striving for together for NATO, for example, is something we will have to achieve ourselves. Ultimately, this also includes promoting better border protection,” he added.

Yet, money is not what Poland wants from the EU, stressed Tusk, pointing out that Poland spends 4% of its GDP on defence, the highest share in NATO.

“We ask for nothing. (…) And it is not my dream to see German tanks in the Polish streets, for various, including historic reasons,” he added, referring to the Nazi occupation of Poland during World War II.

Better coordination

Instead, Tusk called for better coordination of the EU member states’ defence activities and capabilities.

“Europe’s security must not be a matter of competing initiatives,” he said, adding, “Europe has a chance to be the world’s largest military power, but the problem is the lack of coordination of its defence efforts.”

Scholz agreed with his Polish counterpart, stressing that there was no need to doubt European countries were aware of their “joint responsibility for Europe’s security.”

The key issue is “cooperating well within NATO and the EU, and to intensify these cooperation efforts,” he said. He highlighted the German-led European Sky Shield Initiative for joint procurement of air defence, as a blueprint.

In a fast-changing world, Europe even more must count on itself when it comes to defence, Tusk added, noting that stronger European defence also benefits NATO.

[Edited by Alexandra Brzozowski/Rajnish Singh]