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Mark Rutte has hailed Poland’s “huge contribution to NATO” – in particular, the fact that it is NATO’s biggest defence spender in relative terms – during his first visit to Warsaw as secretary general of the alliance.
“I know that I can count on Poland to lead the way, including with your exemplary defence spending of over 4% of GDP – and even next year moving into the area of 4.7%,” said Rutte following a meeting with President Andrzej Duda.
“This sends a clear message not only to our adversaries, but also to the United States, that Europe understands it must do more to ensure our shared security,” he added. “And that starts with spending more and also fielding more capabilities.”
#Poland 🇵🇱 is a key security provider for #NATO & steadfast supporter of #Ukraine. You lead the way with exemplary defence spending – more than 4 per cent of GDP. Thank you for your commitment to our transatlantic Alliance. pic.twitter.com/8kOMkg6blT
— Mark Rutte (@SecGenNATO) November 13, 2024
Speaking alongside Rutte, Duda said he was “glad that the secretary general is in favour of everyone in NATO increasing their defence spending”. This is an “unfortunate” necessity, the Polish president explained, “because Russian imperialism has been reborn and today NATO must rise to the occasion to be truly ready to defend itself”.
Currently, it is “impossible to imagine that Europe would be able to defend itself against Russian imperialism in a situation where there are still countries in Europe that spend less than 2% of GDP on defence”, added Duda.
According to NATO, this year eight member states will spend less than the alliance’s 2% guideline: Croatia (1.81%), Portugal (1.55%), Italy (1.49%), Canada (1.37%), Belgium (1.30%), Luxembourg (1.29%), Slovenia (1.29%) and Spain (1.28%).
Poland is the alliance’s biggest relative defence spender, at 4.12% of GDP, followed by Estonia (3.43%) and the United States (3.38%). Poland’s budget for 2025 envisions its figure rising to 4.7%.
Source: NATO
During his meeting with Duda and at a subsequent one with Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Rutte also hailed Poland’s “steadfast support of Ukraine”, both by providing military aid to Kyiv and in welcoming a huge number of Ukrainian refugees.
In his remarks, Tusk said it should be a “universal principle” that any “decisions regarding the war [in Ukraine]…are made with the participation of countries from NATO’s eastern flank, but above all Ukraine itself”. There should be no decisions made “about Ukraine without Ukraine”.
Last month, the leaders of the US, UK, France and Germany faced criticism after meeting in Berlin to discuss the war in Ukraine without inviting their Polish or Ukrainian counterparts.
After Biden, Scholz, Macron and Starmer met to discuss the war in Ukraine, many commentators criticised them for not inviting any eastern frontline states, in particular Poland, which is Ukraine’s neighbour and NATO’s biggest relative defence spender https://t.co/EatYfab8uw
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) October 20, 2024
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: KPRM/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
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.
