We don't want war in any way. All the activities we carry out – increased spending, support and assistance to Ukraine, sharing their operational capabilities, joint exercises, raising their capabilities – are to keep peace," said Władysław Kosiniak-Kamish after the gathering of the defence ministers of the E5 Group states in Italy.
The gathering in Rome was attended by defence ministers of France, Germany, Italy, Poland and large Britain. The E5 talks aimed at strengthening military cooperation and discussing common strategical challenges, from industrial autonomy to countering hybrid threats. The first working session of the meeting, held at the office of the Italian Air Force, Palazzo dell'Aeronautica, was devoted to Ukraine and the support of this country attacked by Russia. The subjects of the second session are strengthening European defence and strategical issues and safety challenges for Europe. It was besides about preparations for the June NATO summit in The Hague.
At the conference after the end of the meeting, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz stressed that the E5 group formed countries with the top military possible in Europe. He compared it to a cape that runs the European Union. “There is no better squad than the five,” he concluded.
Support for Ukraine key to European security
– Peace cannot defend itself, so it needs our strength. The forces of our five, the forces of the North Atlantic Alliance and the forces of the European Union. I'll start with a strategical thing that can warrant transatlantic security. This is further support for Ukraine, it is simply a strong, independent and democratic Ukraine that looks towards the West and will never look towards Moscow," stated the head of the MON. He pointed out that the worst script for Europe and the biggest safety threat would be to repeat the situation from a fewer years after the Orange Revolution, erstwhile pro-Russian orientation gained the advantage in Ukraine.
– The strategy of our countries is simply a strategy for peace. He's a peace partnership. We don't want war in any way. All the activities we carry out – increased spending, support and assistance to Ukraine, sharing our operational capabilities, joint exercises, raising our capabilities – are to keep peace, stressed the Minister of Defence. Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz besides repeated repeated statements that Poland would not send its troops to Ukraine.
A stronger European Union is simply a stronger NATO
– It is very good that the European Union sees the request and starts a fresh spending strategy for the arms, defence, security, protection of our borders, protection of the east flank of NATO and the European Union. The increased commitment of the European Union is not against NATO. It is to make the national armies stronger, and thus the alliance and its abilities will be greater. The stronger the European Union, the stronger NATO," said the Deputy Prime Minister. - There are no opposites, there are no things against each other. It's possible to act together. We are besides in favour of cooperation between the European Union and the United Kingdom being as close as possible so that our partners outside the European Union can jointly implement military projects," he added.
The Italian defence minister Guido Crosetto spoke in a akin tone. – We are 5 ministers from 5 different countries, with different stories, cultures and political visions. But present we share a common awareness: we share the same perception of threats, the same strategical imagination and the same determination to build a Europe of Defence. Not to be better than others, but to be more credible, besides in the eyes of the United States, which will look at us with greater respect erstwhile we show that we are able to undertake circumstantial responsibilities," he said at a conference summarizing the meeting.
What about peace in Ukraine?
Ministers besides referred to the anticipation of peace between Ukraine and Russia. Boris Pistorius, Minister of Defence of Germany, stated that the fact that Vladimir Putin did not come to Istanbul and sent a "third-tier" delegation to talk to Ukraine means that he is not curious in ending the war and does not want to end the attacks. The German politician explicitly referred to Putin's attitude as “a fraud”. The minister noted that the Russian dictator demonstrates his deficiency of interest in a peaceful solution, developing aggression on the battlefield and continuing the air strikes. "Europe will aid the Ukrainian army to rapidly reconstruct its combat readiness, due to the fact that the ceasefire between Kiev and Moscow, if always achieved, will not last forever," Pistorius added. He declared that after negotiating the ceasefire, Europe would proceed to supply material and training support to the Ukrainian military.
The summit in Rome was the 4th E5 group gathering after meetings in Berlin (25 November 2024), Warsaw (13 January 2025) and Paris (12 March 2025).
