According to him, the survival of the EU depends on it, reports TASR according to the AFP agency.
“Now is the time when Europe cannot afford to skimp on security,” declared Tusk when presenting the program of the six-month Polish presidency of the EU Council, which Warsaw took over at the beginning of the year. “If Europe is to survive, it must be armed,” he emphasized.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has forced the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to strengthen its eastern flank and increase defense investment. Trump is demanding that Alliance members increase their spending to five percent of GDP, more than double the current minimum of two percent.
Last year, 23 of the 32 NATO member countries were on the way to reaching the two percent limit – Poland was at the forefront with 4.12 percent. But Trump’s request has been met with skepticism in some European countries, according to AFP, with several diplomats seeing it as the first phase of his new effort to pressure Washington’s allies to do more.
However, the Polish Prime Minister asked the countries of the Union to take security into their own hands. “Don’t ask America what it can do for our security. Ask yourselves what we can do for our own security,” he declared.
According to the agency, Poland, which as the only member of NATO borders both Russia and Ukraine, is considered to be the first line of Moscow’s attempts to destabilize the West, and has put security at the top of the EU Council presidency agenda.
On Wednesday, the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallasová, also called for an increase in defense funding in the EU. “President Trump is right when he says we’re not spending enough (on defense). It’s time to invest,” she said, adding that the United States must remain Europe’s strongest ally.
