EU unity against Russia is 'first commandment' Tusk says
Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minster, after a meeting with the German chancellor on Monday named solidarity as the highest EU priority in the face of the aggressive policy of Russia.
Tusk arrived in Berlin on Monday afternoon to meet with Olaf Scholz.
During a press conference, he reported that the talks had concerned strengthening Polish-German cooperation and "generating new momentum" for the Weimar Triangle - a diplomatic format grouping Poland, France and Germany, initiated in 1991.
Tusk said that they discussed "the most important need, which is the security of our homelands, of the whole of Europe and the security of our allies and neighbours," and Ukraine in particular.
"The first commandment - and I think that in particular the leaders of Poland and Germany here have a special duty and a special right to say it out loud - should be to take care of the unity of Europe in confronting Russia's aggressive policy, and this applies to every dimension," he said.
The prime minister said that the history has proven to be "extremely cruel and surprising" and that no one expected Polish-German cooperation in Ukraine's defence against Russia.
"For many years, not only in the EU, thinking about Europe-Russia relations was dominated by illusion, wishful thinking," Tusk said. "Sometimes trivial business prevailed over geopolitical rationality and imagination."
He underlined the crucial importance of the lessons coming from the past, the Second World War, as well as recent history.
Tusk also said that Europe was seeking to achieve "much greater air defence and munition production capabilities."
"We want to achieve it together as Europe, also in cooperation between Poland and Germany, as soon as possible, so not in 10, 15 years, but in the next dozen months or so," he said.
He went on to say that the reason was "not only to help Ukraine, which is a priority today, but also for Europe to acquire defence capabilities appropriate to our potential."
"We will be respected in all capitals around the world if we believe that the EU can be a superpower not only in terms of civilisation, economy and science, but rightly also a military superpower," Tusk said. "It's not our choice, we didn't seek any confrontation, it's a necessity." (PAP)
aj/jd/ej
