Polish opposition leader and former Prime Minister Donald Tusk has called for unwavering military aid to Ukraine ahead of Poland’s Oct. 15 parliamentary elections, BILD reported on Sept. 27.
"The victory of Ukraine is in the national interests of Poland for sure," said Tusk. "This will affect both economic issues and the problem of refugees. The Polish state should not budge from its position, military support of Ukraine should not be questioned."
Poland's support came under question recently when Tusk's opponent, incumbent Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, said on Sept. 20 that Poland needed to focus on strengthening its own military arsenal and would no longer supply weapons to Ukraine.
Later, officials clarified that Poland will meet all its existing agreements on arms deliveries.
Tusk represents the Civic Platform, a center-right political party.
Poland’s ruling party, the conservative Law and Justice (PiS), has also had tensions with the European Union over military support for Ukraine.
The suggested decreases in aid to Ukraine are a “quite dangerous” warning, one EU official told the Financial Times.
Daniel Hegedüs, a German Marshall Fund fellow told FT that while Poland’s upcoming election could result in a number of possible outcomes, most were negative.
“There could be an increasing core of central and eastern European and southern European illiberal, authoritarian governments. That will make the coordination of EU foreign policy actions even more difficult,” he said.
“So much hinges on what happens in Warsaw.”
Oleg Sukhov
