Tusk and von der Leyen call for Europe to boost defence spending

"Big and well-spent money on European security will push war away from Europe's borders for a long time, perhaps permanently," said Tusk, speaking at the European Economic Congress in the southern Polish city of Katowice. "If we will be strong, we will be safe."

"If Europe had been better prepared, if Europe and European leaders had had enough imagination years ago…then perhaps Russia would not have dared to attack our friend Ukraine," he added.

Speaking before him at the same event, von der Leyen likewise urged Europe to "spend more on defence, to spend better and spend European".

Putin's war is about redrawing the map of Europe.

But it is also a war on our Union.

And on the entire global rules-based system.

In response, I'm standing for a Union that is ready to do whatever it takes in defence of the rule of law.

Of Ukraine.

And of Europe. pic.twitter.com/v5YpY6GsXY

— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen_epp) May 7, 2024

Tusk underlined that "Europe can and must" avoid the conflict that has been growing in recent years, especially after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. To do so, it must turn its economic success into better defence capability.

"We in Poland not only understand this very well, but we are increasingly prepared," he said, adding that the further development of Europe's defence will require huge financial resources.

Poland last year spent the equivalent of almost 4% of GDP on defence, the highest relative level in NATO. Tusk today called on the EU to earmark at least €100 billion for common defence.

He stressed the need in particular to ensure the effective defence of Europe's skies but criticised the fact that, despite numerous "initiatives, talks, meetings, summits and gatherings", there has been no real action to achieve that.

"Europe will be safe provided there are safe skies over Europe. This has been shown, for example, by the war in the Middle East and the ongoing…war in Ukraine," he said. Last month, Tusk expressed Poland's interest in joining a project to create an "iron dome" air-defence system in Europe.

Poland is interested in joining a project to create an "iron dome" air-defence system in Europe, PM @donaldtusk has told Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen during a meeting in Warsaw https://t.co/WzAtjvUdj2

— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) April 16, 2024

Von der Leyen, who is hoping to this year secure a second term as head of the European Commission, also underlined the need to invest in the European defence industry.

"Europe's defence is a task for all of Europe," she said. "There can be no real security…without a strong economy…We need a thriving European defence sector to create jobs."

"And this is why if I am the next president of the European Commission, I will propose a number of defence projects of common European interests to ensure that major projects can get off the ground and can be designed, built and deployed on European soil," continued von der Leyen.

She also declared her intention to create the new position of a European defence commission to oversee such projects, an idea that was welcomed later by Tusk.

Von der Leyen emphasised, however, that "core action will always remain in the hands of the member states" rather than Brussels. "They will always be responsible for their troops and all decisions linked to that: recruitment or training, doctrine, deployment. This is the absolute foundation for every member state."

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Main image credit: Grzegorz Celejewski / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.