Tusk calls on Germany to do more to support Ukraine in Potsdam speech

Polish opposition leader and former European Council President Donald Tusk has, during a speech in Potsdam, called on Germany to do more to support Ukraine. He also said that Berlin should provide compensation for the losses caused by Nazi Germany in World War Two.

“If the feeling of guilt for World War Two is to oblige the Germans to something, it is primarily to unequivocally and fully engage on the side of Ukraine in the fight against the aggressor,” said Tusk, speaking yesterday evening at a media awards ceremony attended by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The gala honoured the Ukrainian people for “defending themselves against Russia’s brutal invasion for months with heroic courage and indomitable will”.

“I am proud of my countrymen, who from the very first days set an example to the whole world on how to deal with this historic challenge,” said Tusk. “There is no reason why countries such as Germany, France and Italy should get involved in helping Ukraine any less than the US, Poland or the Baltic states.”

“Ukraine, as recent days have shown, has a chance to win this war, but it requires much greater support from Europe, especially the biggest and richest countries like Germany,” added Tusk. “And it is not only about symbolic support, about warm words, awards and distinctions, but about weapons, ammunition, planes, tanks.”

Poland has, after the US, been the biggest supplier of military equipment to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion. By contrast, Germany has faced criticism for what many regard as only tepid support for Kyiv and continued reliance on Russian energy.

Source: Kiel Institute for World Economy

Tusk issued a warning to “European politicians across the continent, including here in Berlin, who are looking for some historical and economic justifications for inaction or neutrality”.

They “should be aware that if aid from all Western countries, and I am talking especially about the supply of weapons, would be faster and greater, so many children would not have died in Ukraine, so many women would not be raped and murdered, fewer cities, hospitals and kindergartens would have been bombed”.

During his speech, Tusk also said that Germany’s sense of guilt over World War Two should oblige it to reach “an honest approach to compensating the losses to the nations that paid the greatest price for the madness of Nazism”.

Those remarks come after the Polish government recently announced it would seek reparations for the losses caused by Germany to Poland during the war, which it calculates as amounting to $1.3 trillion. Those efforts have been supported by Tusk’s Civic Platform (PO) party, which also wants war reparations from Russia.

Tusk’s speech in Germany , however, received a tepid response from the Polish government, which has long accused him of being a tool of German interests and too sympathetic towards Russia during his time as prime minister.

Government spokesman Piotr Müller said that Tusk had as prime minister “pursued a completely different policy” to the one he proclaimed in Potsdam yesterday, including failing to oppose the “Russian-German energy alliance”.

Main image credit: EU2017EE Estonian Presidency/Flickr (under CC BY 2.0)

Daniel Tilles

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.