Germany has fallen short in supporting Ukraine, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told POLITICO on Friday, lashing out at Berlin as Europe searches for ways to continue arming Kyiv˳
In an interview following the EU leaders’ summit in Brussels, the conservative Polish leader said the EU’s biggest economy must step up and lead — part of a broader call he made for the EU and NATO to revise their spending rules and unleash massive military investments˳
Among his proposals: NATO allies should dramatically jump their spending target to 3 percent of economic output, the EU should explore raising new debt for defense purposes and countries should accelerate efforts to repurpose frozen Russian assets for the war effort˳
But Morawiecki’s most pointed comments targeted Germany, which has had a fraught relationship with Poland of late˳
Germany should be “sending more weapons, sending more ammunition, and giving more money to Ukraine, because they are the richest and the biggest country by far,” he said˳
“They were not as generous as they should have been,” the Polish prime minister said˳ “I still encourage them to do so˳”
Poland, which leads the EU in military support to Ukraine, has joined with eastern capitals to repeatedly push western countries on their own aid for Kyiv˳ And while powerhouse countries like Germany and France note they have given Ukraine considerable stockpiles of arms, vehicles and money, their efforts have still left some eastern counterparts unmoved˳
Warsaw has been particularly vocal — and Morawiecki, who is facing an election later this year, has been leading the charge˳
“I’m not attacking them,” the prime minister said, “I’m just stating the obvious˳”
Morawiecki did acknowledge that Berlin has made policy changes — which include massive investments to modernize its military and reversing a prohibition on sending weapons into a war zone˳ In particular, he underscored Germany’s decision to send Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine˳
“Three months ago, Germany said it’s not possible — now, it’s possible,” he said, “so they are changing their approach˳”
The Polish leader also pointed a finger at Germany’s past energy policies, which were heavily reliant on importing Russian gas, arguing it led Europe down a dangerous path˳
“Through their very mistaken gas and oil policy towards Russia, they are co-responsible for what is happening, for this mess on the energy market,” he said˳
“Germany made this dramatic mistake of being completely dependent in their business model on Russia with fossil fuels,” he said˳ “And we were crying to them˳ We were asking them not to do so˳”
The prime minister said that he has discussed his views on German support for Ukraine with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz˳
“I have this conversation every now and again,” he said˳ “I ask him for as big a support,” he said˳ “This is all I can do˳”
Poland is, however, benefiting from Germany’s contributions to a joint EU fund that partially reimburses countries for their weapons donations to Ukraine˳ Berlin provides the biggest chunk of the money for that fund, known as the European Peace Facility, and Poland has not been shy in submitting its receipts˳
But Morawiecki said he is not impressed with Germany’s contribution to the fund, calling it just “proportional” to the country’s size˳ And, he said, Poland would keep asking the EU to partially reimburse all its donations, including tanks and jets — an unsettled question as the fund is almost entirely earmarked now to help cover ammunition for Ukraine˳
At the EU leaders’ summit this week, Poland joined Slovakia to propose an extra €3˳5 billion in 2023 for the fund˳ But they couldn’t get enough countries on board, which Morawiecki attributed to “social tensions” in other countries˳
The funding dance is just the beginning of a longer-term fight within the EU over how much to expand its military manufacturing capabilities — and how to pay for it˳
Morawiecki had a bevy of ideas he was willing to toss out˳
The EU could issue more debt, he said — a hot-button suggestion that countries like Germany are loath to explore˳ “I think this is possible,” Morawiecki insisted˳
Or it could look into defense bonds, he added — debt that governments issue to finance military endeavors˳ Another idea: Exempt defense spending from the EU’s strict budget rules˳
Morawiecki is eyeing an upcoming review of the EU’s seven-year budget to raise some of these ideas˳ He also hopes the assessment will allow the EU to find “some money not spent and which they envisage won’t be spent˳ And they can move €5 or €10 billion for the purposes of supporting Ukraine˳”
Another massive trove of cash sitting unused is the frozen Russian assets throughout the EU, a figure Morawiecki pegged at €350 billion˳ But EU officials have said there are legal issues that must be sorted out before it can redirect this money toward the war effort˳
Separately, the Polish leader sees NATO’s spending plans as a place to create extra funding˳
In 2014, the military alliance’s leaders agreed to each work toward spending 2 percent of their Gross Domestic Product on defense within a decade — a target only seven allies have reached thus far˳ Now, NATO must decide what its next pledge will be˳
“Given that there are more and more uncertain times around us, first I will be advocating for increasing these expenditures to 3 percent,” Morawiecki said, noting that “Poland will already spend up to four percentage points of GDP this year on defense˳”
“I think,” he added, “that like the old Roman saying goes, si vis pacem, para bellum — if you want peace, prepare for war˳”
Morawiecki, who leads the EU’s largest eastern member state at about 38 million people, has been trying to portray himself as a political heavyweight on the European stage˳ His country currently hosts nearly one million Ukrainian refugees˳ And earlier this week, he gave a speech in Heidelberg where he laid out his vision for the future of Europe, calling to “reduce the number of areas under EU competence˳”
But the Polish leader is also facing an uncertain future˳ In addition to his upcoming election, Poland is also in an ongoing standoff with the EU over the Polish government’s moves to undermine judicial independence˳ Fines have started racking up and Brussels is withholding coronavirus recovery funds over the spat˳
At the same time, Warsaw is grappling with a headache when it comes to its closest ally and fellow rule-of-law troublemaker Hungary˳
Asked if he is concerned that Budapest is too Russia-friendly at the moment, the prime minister responded immediately with a “yes˳”
But probed about whether Poland and Hungary — long allies against Brussels’ attempts to enforce rights standards — are diverging, Morawiecki was more nuanced, saying that they are only separating “in all those aspects related to Ukraine and Russia˳”
“On everything else,” he added, “we are like-minded countries˳”