Not American, not European, not transatlantic. The summit in The Hague confirmed there will be no crack in the Alliance. The European Union is supporting NATO to strengthen its defence capabilities. Paweł Zalewski, Deputy Minister of National Defence, talks about how the North Atlantic Pact will change after decisions made in the Netherlands.
We have increased spending on defence, it is crucial in the context of Poland, but You mentioned earlier that this is besides a sign that Europe has awakened.
Everyone sees and understands the Russian threat. That's what's mobilizing the full West. We achieved a fantastic consequence at the summit, with associate States committed to reaching the 5% threshold in terms of defence spending within 10 years. any countries want to scope this ceiling much earlier – in 2029, 2030. But on the another hand, the European Union is utilizing its top asset and potential, namely economical policy, to strengthen the defence industry. It besides wants to enable EU countries, which are besides NATO members, to strengthen their military capabilities, to strengthen their capabilities precisely as the Alliance expects. So present we are dealing with something that erstwhile seemed unrealistic – full synergies between NATO and the European Union. The Union supports NATO so that NATO can strengthen its defence capabilities, military strength, so that we are safe so that we can scare Russia away.
Although it seemed that, after president Trump took office, this cooperation on the NATO-European Union line was not so obvious.
That is true, but today, even erstwhile we hear French leaders talking about Europe's strategical sovereignty towards the United States, we hear a very different context. This is the European pillar of NATO, cooperating with the US.. And this is besides a large transformation that has taken place recently. It is no longer that Europe is to be competitive in any way towards the United States, but is to strengthen NATO and, together with the Americans, implement regional plans which are the essence of the North Atlantic Pact.
And how much has this summit confirmed that the Alliance will stay transatlantic?
This is highly important, due to the fact that we had a number of different statements earlier, on the European side and on the American side, which could have created the impression that NATO was reaching a certain point where it would either be NATO with Americans, or it would be NATO European. There is no uncertainty today. On the 1 hand, European countries, including the most postulating strategical autonomy towards the United States, specified as France, are in favour of this being a transatlantic alliance. On the another hand, we have a very strong confirmation, yesterday from Secretary Hegseth (the head of the Pentagon – red), Secretary Rubio (the secretary of state – ed.), and present from president Trump himself, that the US will fulfil their obligations within NATO, that they are attached to it. So on 2 sides we have confirmation of this transatlantic character of NATO.
There is 1 more thing – and we are all aware that the basis of military power is economical strength, the strength of defence industry. And present in NATO We are talking about the cooperation of defence industries in the transatlantic formula. It is not about turning distant from the European defence manufacture towards the US, it is about synergies between the defence industries of Europe and the United States. And I want to remind you that it's Poland, it's us, it's us. Deputy Prime Minister Kosiniak-Kamish during a gathering with Secretary Hegseth earlier this year and we've already been doing it from the very beginning, so we have Polish-American joint venture. This is an example of this transatlantic dimension of NATO in the cooperation of defence industries.
