WASHINGTON (AP) – Polish President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday used a joint White House visit with political rival Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to urge North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies to significantly increase defense spending. He called for pressure on a divided Washington to break the impasse over funding. For Ukraine at a critical moment of the war in Europe.
As Russia puts its economy on war footing and pursues plans to conquer Ukraine, Duda is calling on NATO allies to raise defense spending to 3% of GDP. Poland already spends 4% of its economic output on defense, twice the current target of 2% for NATO countries.
Polish president urges NATO allies to increase defense spending
The Polish leader made the call during a visit to Washington with Tusk to mark the 25th anniversary of Poland’s participation in the Transatlantic Military Alliance, which now includes 32 countries. It was a historic step towards the West, freeing the country from Moscow’s sphere of influence after decades of communist rule.
President Joe Biden meets with Polish President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Donald Tusk in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, March 12, 2024, in Washington.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine demonstrated that the United States is, and should continue to be, a security leader,” Duda said. “But other allies have to take more responsibility for the security of the entire alliance. Ten years ago, 2% was fine, but now we’re facing an all-out war launched by Russia just beyond NATO’s eastern border. We need 3% to fight back.”
Biden said the U.S. commitment to Poland is ironclad, marveling at Poland’s current defense spending and calling out leaders who took in hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees after Russia launched its invasion in February 2022. I was grateful. But he did not directly address Duda’s call for more spending for NATO members.
“When we come together, there is no greater force on earth,” Biden said, recalling the words of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright when Poland joined the alliance. “I believed it then, and I believe it now, as Polish and American forces serve alongside NATO in the East, including Poland. I understand that.”
But Biden administration officials suggested ahead of the meeting that Duda’s call for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries to raise their defense spending targets may be too ambitious, at least for now.
“I think the first step is for all countries to meet the 2% threshold, and we’re seeing that improvement,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. “But I think that’s a first step before we start talking about additional proposals.”
The trip also comes amid a standoff in Washington between Democrat Biden and House Republicans over Ukraine funds. House Republicans blocked a $118 billion bipartisan package that included $60 billion in Ukraine funds, as well as funding for Israel, Taiwan and U.S. border security.
The Pentagon announced Tuesday it would rush about $300 million worth of weapons to Ukraine because cost savings were found in the contract. This is the first security package the Biden administration has announced for Ukraine since December, when it admitted it lacked supplemental funding.
Biden said there wasn’t enough money and pointed to Poland’s own history to make the case for more funding.
“We have to act before it’s literally too late,” Biden said. “Because, as Poland remembers, Russia does not stop with Ukraine. Putin will continue to advance and endanger Europe, the United States and the entire free world.”
Duda met with US lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Tuesday ahead of a meeting at the White House. He issued a blunt warning that unless the United States provided military aid to stop Russia’s advances, Poland would find itself on the front lines of a conflict involving European and American forces.
“Financial aid to Ukraine is cheap, considering that other forms of support would be needed in the event of war or an attack on NATO countries,” Duda said.
After a meeting at the White House, Tusk urged Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson to pass funding for Ukraine, saying inaction could result in “thousands of lives lost in Ukraine.” I warned you.
“This is not a political skirmish that only matters on the American political stage,” Tusk said.
Biden informed leaders that the United States plans to advance foreign military financing to help Poland purchase 96 Apache helicopters. The State Department approved the sale last year.
The trip was another opportunity for Biden to demonstrate how his views on NATO contrast with those of likely 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Trump said that while he was president, he warned NATO allies that he would “encourage” Russia to “do whatever it wants” to countries that were “delinquent” on the alliance’s defense spending targets.white house press secretary
Fear deepens across Europe about Ukraine’s fate as ammunition stocks run low and Russia reaps gains on the Ukrainian battlefield, reversing its weak military performance at the start of the war in February 2022.
Tusk said that despite Poland’s political divisions, the country is united on issues of security, Russia and Ukraine, and he hopes other allies will do the same.
“When we Poles began our journey westward, Pope John Paul II said that there could be no just Europe without Polish independence,” Tusk said. I would say that there can be no secure Europe without Poland. Of course, I also believe that there can be no mere Europe without a free and independent Ukraine.”
According to Polish media, it will be the first time in a quarter century that a Polish president and prime minister will visit Washington at the same time, and the first time that both leaders will be welcomed to the White House at the same time. The move by rival political rivals is widely seen as a recognition of the seriousness of this historic moment, as Russia’s power grows as Ukraine’s power wanes.
Duda, aligned with the National Conservative Party that lost power last year, used his power to delay Tusk’s transition to a new government by several weeks.
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Mr. Tusk came to power on a promise to restore democratic norms eroded under the previous government, and Poland is hailed by many across Europe as one of the only places where rising authoritarianism has been reversed in recent years. has been done.
“No matter who wins the elections in our country, we take our obligations more seriously than anyone else in Europe,” Tusk said.
