Polish leadership is calling on the nation to explore the possibility of acquiring nuclear weapons given fears that the United States will abandon the NATO alliance.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on March 7 that Warsaw will consider a proposal to obtain or else benefit from French nuclear weapons.
“I say this with full responsibility, it is not enough to purchase conventional weapons, the most traditional ones. The battlefield is changing before our eyes from month to month,” Tusk said during a speech to the lower house of the Polish Parliament.
Tusk added that Poland is “talking seriously with the French about their idea of a nuclear umbrella over Europe.”
The remarks were made amid a storm of defense-related activity across Europe in recent weeks and closely follow comments made by U.S. President Donald Trump, who suggested earlier in the week that the United States might not defend its treaty allies from attack.
Trump, when asked Thursday if he would refuse to defend NATO allies who did not meet his administration’s steep defense spending suggestions, said that such a course of action would make sense.
“Well, I think it’s common sense, right? If they don’t pay, I’m not going to defend them. No, I’m not going to defend them,” he said.
Trump also expressed skepticism over whether NATO would defend the United States from attack if their roles were reversed.
“Do you think they’re going to come and protect us? They’re supposed to. I’m not so sure,” he said.
Poland Working With France to Create New Nuclear Deterrent
Trump’s comments about NATO and his recent decision to revoke all military, humanitarian, intelligence, and commercial support of Ukraine, have sent shockwaves through Europe, as many nations there have bilateral alliances with Washington which grant them strategic protection under the United States’ nuclear umbrella.Many leaders throughout Europe now believe that Trump could also revoke those agreements, and have therefore begun talks to discuss establishing an independent European nuclear deterrent.
France is the only nation in the European Union that maintains its own nuclear stockpile, while Belgium, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands house U.S. nuclear weapons under a sharing program with Washington.
Leadership from Poland and the Baltic nations have quickly embraced Macron’s agreement to open nuclear talks, fearing that, without their own nuclear deterrent, a weak cease-fire deal for the ongoing war in Ukraine could encourage Russia to invade other nations in eastern Europe.
Post-Soviet States Fear New Era of Russian Expansionism
Poland, like the Baltic nations, was dominated by communist forces who owed allegiance to Moscow until reasserting its independence at the end of the Cold War.Because of that history, the nation has become deeply invested in NATO, which was founded to counter Soviet expansion. Poland now spends a higher proportion of its GDP on defense than any other NATO member.
Tusk said in January that Europe must arm itself to be free of dependency on the United States, or else risk another era of Russian domination.
“If Ukraine loses the war or if it accepts the terms of peace, armistice, or capitulation in such a way that weakens its sovereignty and makes it easier for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to gain control over Ukraine, then, without a doubt … Poland will find itself in a much more difficult geopolitical situation,” Tusk said.
During his speech to Parliament on March 7, Tusk also announced a plan to provide military training to all Polish men aged 18 and over, thereby creating a massive reserve force capable of responding to emerging threats.
The new reserve training program, which would include large scale exercises with the active service, is aimed at doubling the size of Poland’s military from 220,000 to 500,000 personnel in the coming years.
