President Karol Nawrocki’s chief of staff and most senior foreign policy aide have both called on the Polish government to “take advantage” of President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw 5,000 US troops from Germany by seeking to have them redeployed to Poland.
Their comments come shortly after Prime Minister Donald Tusk, an opponent of Nawrocki, said that he would not want to “undermine European solidarity” by “poaching” US troops from Germany. However, since then, other government figures have indicated Poland may be open to such a transfer.
“We have to take advantage of the situation,” Nawrocki’s chief of staff, Zbigniew Bogucki, told broadcaster wPolsce on Tuesday. “This isn’t about poaching, it’s not about acting at someone’s expense; it is firstly in the interests of Poland, and secondly in the interests of Europe.”
The 5,000 US troops “should stay in Europe” and “the Polish prime minister should do everything he can, bend over backwards, to support the Polish president, who has excellent relations with Donald Trump in this regard”, he added.
Tusk’s suggestion that relations with Germany are more important than expanding the US military presence in Poland “are the words of a Polish prime minister who does not represent Polish interests”, said Bogucki.
A similar message was delivered on Wednesday by Marcin Przydacz, the head of the president’s International Policy Bureau (BPM).
“If these soldiers are going to leave Germany and return to Kentucky or Ohio, then it would be better if they came to Poland,” he told broadcaster RMF. “It’s not about poaching, it’s about looking out for our interests.”
Przydacz said that, in Nawrocki’s last call with Trump, which took place on Sunday, the pair had discussed the US military presence in Poland.
He added that unnamed “high-ranking [Polish] generals” had told him that the infrastructure was in place for “several thousand [US] soldiers to be deployed [to Poland] immediately, within weeks”.
Przydacz suggested that the best location would be in northeast Poland, near the borders with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and Belarus. “I think it would also be a good strategic signal showing Russia that we are strong as an alliance,” he said.
During his remarks on Sunday, Tusk said that Poland would take “any opportunity to increase the American presence in Poland”.
However, he added that he “will not allow Poland to be used in any way to undermine solidarity or cooperation at the European level” by “poaching” US troops from allies.
The prime minister faced strong criticism for his remarks from Nawrocki’s chancellery as well as figures from the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS), Poland’s main opposition party, which repeated its longstanding claims that Tusk represents German, rather than Polish, interests.
However, since then, other government figures have emphasised that Poland is seeking to expand the US military presence, and have indicated this could even involve accepting troops withdrawn from Germany.
“We won’t have anything against it if, instead of withdrawing these 5,000 American troops from Germany back to America or sending them, for example, to the Middle East, they ultimately end up in Poland,” deputy foreign minister Marcin Bosacki told Polsat News on Wednesday morning.
But he added that the government “is not in favour of the idea” of US forces being withdrawn from Germany because the American military presence there is crucial for regional security.
“When there are several groups in Germany that can be increased from a battalion to a brigade and sent to Poland in the event of a conflict or tension between NATO and Russia within a few days, this is what we want,” said Bosacki.
The deputy minister also confirmed that “talks are underway at both the military and diplomatic levels” with Washington over increasing the US military presence. “Poland is offering the Americans new locations,” he said.
Later on Wednesday, foreign minister Radosław Sikorski likewise declared that additional US forces “will be welcome in Poland” and “we won’t delve into where these soldiers would come from”, reports news website Onet. “We invite them here, where the real threat is, 250 km away.”
Poland currently hosts around 10,000 US troops while Germany has around 36,000, though that figure is set to drop closer to 30,000 once Trump’s decision to reduce numbers is implemented.
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
Posted by BubsyFanboy
2 Comments
The initial thought in my head from this headline was funnier than the subject text.
!ping POLAND&EUROPE
**1. Why is this relevant for** r/neoliberal **?**
This is relevant to Polish and European politics, military affairs, diplomacy, Germany and the United States of America.
**2. What do you think people should discuss about it?**
I think people should talk about the withdrawal of troops from Germany by USA, the proposal to take USA’s troops ourselves, Poland’s reactions to it and the general discussions on the affair.
**2a. What do you think of the issue at hand?**
They’re either cynics or incredibly naive for this stance. Imagine thinking USA (especially second Trump term USA) would come to protect us on their own without the EU’s help.