Poland will cling to transatlantic relations for as long as Washington delivers hard power and profits – but Warsaw is quietly building a European security fallback for the day when it does not.
Karol Nawrocki, Poland’s president, did not rush to accept Donald Trump’s invitation to the so-called ‘Board of Peace’ meeting on Thursday. The hesitation was telling. Despite Warsaw’s unusually warm relations with the American president, Nawrocki resisted the temptation y contrast, Viktor Orbán seized the opportunity with pride and enthusiasm, hoping the gesture might bolster his flagging position at home – before the elections in which the stakes are high.. Clearly, Nawrocki sits in a different boat. Yet the choice carried weight. His political future – and Poland’s broader foreign and security posture – hung in the balance.
Donald Tusk, the prime minister, wasted little time in making the constitutional position clear. In a pointed post on X, he reminded that joining an international organisation required the approval of the Council of Ministers and ratification by the Sejm. The government, he declared, would act solely in the national interest and security of Poland. ‘We will not let anyone play us,’ he wrote. The message was a clear blow to Nawrocki’s ambitions – – he may represent the state, but he cannot bind it without the government’s say-so.
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