WARSAW, April 24 (Reuters) - Europe’s “biggest, most important question” is whether the United States is ready to be a loyal NATO partner in case of a Russian attack, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told the Financial Times.
He also called for the European Union to become a “real alliance” in protecting the continent, reflecting growing worries about U.S. President Donald Trump’s unpredictable policies and threats towards his European partners.
“For the whole eastern flank, my neighbours… the question is if NATO is still an organisation ready, politically and also logistically, to react, for example against Russia if they try to attack,” he said in an interview published in the British newspaper on Friday.
The U.S. ambassador to Poland Tom Rose said in a post on X that Trump’s commitment to Poland was “iron clad, rock solid and well deserved”.
“Yes, America is loyal to its allies - but we too ask if our allies are as loyal to us as they expect us to be to them?” Rose wrote.
A RUSSIAN ATTACK COULD BE MONTHS AWAY, TUSK SAYS
Russia has ridiculed suggestions that it might attack NATO but Tusk said a potential Russian attack was not necessarily a distant prospect.
“I’m talking about short-term perspectives, rather months than years… it’s really important to know that everyone will treat the NATO obligations as seriously as Poland.”
He was speaking as he and other EU leaders met to discuss the war in the Middle East, energy measures in response and the Union’s next long-term budget at an informal summit in Cyprus this week.
Tusk suggested that the bloc could also reflect on its mutual defence clause, Article 42.7 of the EU treaty, after the departure of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, an ally of Russia, whose party lost an election earlier this month.
The continent needed real defences and real power to deploy them anywhere they are needed, he said.
“This is why my obsession now and my mission is to reintegrate Europe. It means common defence… a common effort to protect our eastern borders.”
(Reporting by Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, additional reporting by Alan Charlish; Editing by Kate Mayberry and Philippa Fletcher)
