Poland becomes the leader of the new Europe

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Poland has become one of Ukraine’s most important allies. Not only is the Polish infrastructure indispensable for the supply of arms, ammunition and other relief goods to Ukraine. It was also announced on Thursday that Poland will supply MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine.

The NATO country is also responsible for training Ukrainian soldiers. Recently declassified Pentagon documents show that no other country has trained as many Ukrainian military personnel as Poland and Romania.

Moreover, Poland has become a ‘humanitarian superpower’, as the US Ambassador to Warsaw, Mark Brzezinski (58), put it. The country, which refused to take in refugees in 2015 and cracked down on migrants at the Belarusian border in 2021, has taken in 1.5 million war refugees from Ukraine. Poland has become an important country in the NATO alliance.

No wonder Poland is so attached to Ukraine: it is one of the countries for which a defeat by Russia would almost only bring benefits. Because: with the Russian defeat, there would be a good chance that Ukraine will join the EU. This would shift the EU’s center of gravity further to the east. This would be a historic opportunity for Poland to finally move out of the periphery status and counterbalance the major western EU member states.

Poland is also aware of this. “The old Europe believed in an agreement with Russia and the old Europe failed,” said Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, 54, at a joint press conference with US Vice President Kamala Harris, 58, on Wednesday. “But there is a new Europe – a Europe that remembers what Russian communism was. And Poland is the leader of this new Europe.”

Poland is in a difficult position in Europe

But it is precisely in this Europe, which Poland thinks it leads, that the country is actually in a difficult position. In February, the European Commission decided to charge Poland with violating EU law. In addition, Warsaw wants more than 1.3 trillion euros from Germany as war reparations for the Second World War. Germany was not very enthusiastic about this demand.

But the relationship with the US is even closer. No other country in Europe is currently as popular with Washington as Poland. Within a year, US President Joe Biden (80) visited Warsaw twice: a few weeks after the outbreak of war in March 2022 and again shortly before the first anniversary of the outbreak of war in February. There he admitted: “The United States needs Poland just as much as Poland needs the United States.”

Poland’s power expansion would be an advantage for the US

If the Eastern European countries become more powerful, the US in particular should be happy about this. Poland is one of the staunchest American allies on the European continent. The more powerful and important Poland becomes in Europe, the greater the influence of America on the continent.

Warsaw has long advocated for US troops to be stationed on its territory, and many of its recent defense contracts have gone to US companies. Earlier this year, Poland signed a $1.4 billion deal to buy a second batch of Abrams tanks and agreed to spend $4.6 billion on F-35 fighter jets.

Source: Blick