By Jo Harper
WARSAW (AA) – Europe will not be able to ensure its security against Russian imperial ambitions without the help of the United States, Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Poland’s National Independence Day Monday.
Duda – taking part in the 126th celebrations of Poland's independence from Russia, Germany, and the Austro-Hungarian empire in 1918 – called the claim that Europe can ensure its own security “a pipe dream.”
“Europe will not be able to ensure its own security against Russian imperial ambitions without the help of the United States. It was recently realized that the resources, for example ammunition in Europe, would be enough for only a few days of fighting on the front line to defend Ukraine against Russian aggression. Politicians have encountered this brutal truth during this war," he said, referring to the Ukraine war, which began in February 2022.
Duda is closely connected with the opposition Law and Justice (PiS) party, which was a strong supporter of Trump in his first term in office. With Trump’s return to the White House due in January, some European leaders – fearing Trump will pull back US support for Europe, as he has strongly suggested – have advocated Europe be ready to do more for itself.
“Today, we are here, on the Vistula River, an independent and sovereign Poland, we, the Polish Nation – part of great international communities: the European Union, but above all a great security community – the North Atlantic Alliance, led by the United States. In Europe, we are part of communities that we ourselves created – the Bucharest Nine or the Three Seas Initiative,” he said.
“Today, the Fathers of (Polish) Independence are looking at us. They are looking at how we are modernizing our army, how we are increasing spending on security to strengthen ourselves and so no one dares to attack us. We are drawing conclusions from those mistakes, we respect and demand respect for the sovereignty of other nations,” he added.
Poland is one of the top NATO spenders on national defense.