Polish president calls security meeting to discuss EU defence loans and Trump’s Board of Peace

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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.

President Karol Nawrocki has called a meeting of the National Security Council (RBN), a body through which he can consult with the government and parliament, on 11 February.

Nawrocki, who is aligned with the right-wing opposition, says that he wants to discuss three issues: Poland’s proposed EU defence loans, its invitation to join Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, and the alleged “eastern contacts” (meaning Russian) of the speaker of parliament, Włodzimierz Czarzasty.

Czarzasty, who is a member of the governing coalition, which has regularly clashed with Nawrocki, immediately rejected any suggestion that he has contacts which threaten national security.

Under Poland’s constitution, the president is empowered to call a meeting of the RBN. In each of the last three years, the council has been summoned three times, most recently by Nawrocki last September, following the entry of multiple Russian drones into Polish airspace.

The first two topics of the RBN meeting called for next week have been major recent talking points. Last month, the European Commission approved Poland’s request for almost €44 billion in EU-backed loans to support defence spending. This month, the EU Council is set to give final approval.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk has hailed the size of Poland’s allocation, which is the largest among all EU member states. His government notes that the loans are on preferential terms and will support important defence projects, including a new anti-drone system.

However, Nawrocki’s chief security aide, Sławomir Cenckiewicz, has expressed concern that the programme could undermine Poland’s relationship with the United States because the majority of the loans must be used for purchasing European equipment.

Poland has in recent years embarked on an unprecedented defence spending spree, with the largest portion of the outlay going towards American and South Korean equipment. Nawrocki, a close ally of Trump and critic of the EU, has argued that maintaining good relations with Washington is vital.

In response to Cenckiewicz’s concerns about the SAFE programme, figures associated with the government have accused the president of being more interested in defending the interests of the United States than those of Poland.

It was Nawrocki himself who received Trump’s invitation for Poland to join the Board of Peace he has established as part of efforts to end the conflict in Gaza. However, the body is set to have a much broader remit than just the Middle East.

Nawrocki has expressed support for the idea of joining the board, as have Law and Justice (PiS), the main right-wing opposition party, with which Nawrocki is aligned.

However, for Poland to join any international organisation, the approval of the government and parliament is required. Nawrocki has therefore consulted with the foreign ministry over the Board of Peace and now wishes to discuss the issue further at RBN.

“We want to obtain the government’s position on whether to join the Board of Peace,” said Nawrocki’s chief foreign policy aide, Marcin Przydacz. “We sent questions to [foreign minister] Radosław Sikorski and the foreign ministry but there has been no clear answer. This process needs to get moving.”

It is the third and final issue on Nawrocki’s agenda for the RBN that has caught the most attention. He wants to discuss “actions taken by state authorities to clarify all circumstances of the eastern social and business contacts of the speaker of the Sejm, Włodzimierz Czarzasty”.

The president’s office has not specified which “eastern contacts” it is referring to. However, it likely relates to claims made last week by conservative, PiS-aligned broadcaster Republika about Czarzasty’s alleged “murky connections with a mysterious Russian woman”.

The station claimed that, despite holding one of Poland’s most important public offices, Czarzasty has not been properly vetted by the security services. It said that he had not submitted a required security questionnaire to the Internal Security Agency (ABW).

After Nawrocki’s chancellery had issued its statement on Tuesday afternoon, the chancellery of the Sejm, the more powerful lower house of parliament that Czarzasty leads, immediately issued a response rejecting the insinuations.

“The speaker of the Sejm is under constant, full counterintelligence protection and has access to top-level classified information,” it wrote. “If there had been any threat, the relevant authorities would have reacted long ago.”

On Wednesday, the spokesman for Poland’s security services, Jacek Dobrzyński, also issued a statement confirming that they “have no reservations in regard” to Czarzasty and have “strictly adhered to the regulations in force in this matter”.

Meanwhile, the head of Czarzasty’s chancellery sent a letter to Cenkiewicz saying that they would also like the RBN to discuss Nawrocki’s links with football hooligan groups and other people involved in organised crime, including during his time working as a hotel security officer.

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: Przyemysław Keler/KPRP

Olivier Sorgho

Olivier Sorgho is assistant editor at Notes from Poland, covering politics, business and society. He previously worked for Reuters.