Security policy

Tusk: “Then the EU would be the strongest power in the world”

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk(Bild: APA/AFP/Sergei GAPON)

The Polish head of government is calling on his EU colleagues to take more action with regard to a common security policy and support for Ukraine.

"If all the words that have been spoken here in Brussels in recent years about common defense could be turned into bullets and missile launchers, Europe would be the strongest power in the world," Tusk wrote on Platform X on Thursday in response to the latest decisions taken at the EU summit. In view of the massive Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukraine, further military support is promised.

The EU and NATO member state Poland is one of Ukraine's closest military allies and has taken in almost one million refugees from there. Poland is also an important hub for Western support for Kiev.

Ukrainian soldiers at a training ground in Poland(Bild: APA/AFP/Wojtek Radwanski)

Poland wants to participate in Sky Shield
Tusk recently announced that his country would join the European Sky Shield project initiated by Germany. The initiative was initiated by Germany and aims to strengthen airspace defense against the backdrop of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. The protective shield, which is stretched over the participating countries, is intended to detect and defend against drones and missiles (including ballistic and nuclear-tipped missiles) at an early stage.

The initiative was founded on October 13, 2022 by 13 EU states as well as the UK and Norway. The NATO countries Slovakia, Latvia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovenia, Estonia, Denmark and Sweden are also involved. Austria and Switzerland were the only neutral countries to sign a declaration of intent to participate on July 7, 2023.