Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk visited Germany on 12 February to mend relations strained by Tusk’s predecessors in the Law and Justice (PiS) party.
The visit is scheduled to coincide with that of Paris, giving the old alliance between Poland, Germany and France, the so-called Weimar Triangle, a new impetus ahead of Donald Trump’s possible victory in the US election later this year.
Tusk’s meetings with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron will allow the Polish leader to announce Warsaw’s return to the centre of EU politics. The issue of defence will also play a particularly important role in the talks. Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz stated:
“Nato’s motto ‘one for all, all for one’ is a concrete commitment. Undermining the credibility of allied countries means weakening the entire Nato. No election campaign is an excuse for playing with the security of the Alliance.”
Tusk hopes that Scholz and Macron will understand “the necessity of deepening the European defence policy, in case Trump wins the election.” Poland’s prime minister is visiting Paris and Berlin just after Trump told a rally in South Carolina that if NATO member states do not pay for their defence, he will call on Russia to do “whatever the hell with them.”
The Weimar Triangle leaders are expected to announce closer defence co-operation, which could include persuading Scholz to join the EU’s European Peace Facility, a defence fund, and the construction of a munitions factory in Poland by Germany’s Rheinmetall.
