President Duda: during talks with president Trump we discussed my visit to Washington; details of the visit are being arranged as we speak; most likely, the visit will take place in September.
Polish commitment
"What we have achieved during the summit only confirms the unity of NATO. Member states spend more and more on defense and President Trump mentions Poland along other countries that fulfil their commitment regarding defense spending," said President Andrzej Duda after the NATO summit.
"All the discussions, debates and all the decisions we've taken confirm, with utmost certainty, the unity of the NATO. There's no doubt about that," stressed the President on Thursday.
"NATO has demonstrated that it can adapt to the ever changing geopolitical situation and to the situation in our part of Europe. That's exactly how it all should function. The higher the spending, the better the army equipment, and consequently, the NATO will be able to send more troops, also for allied operations," said Andrzej Duda. He also emphasised that the process of modernization of the Polish army should run independently, regardless of commitments within the Alliance. "We want to have a well-functioning army which will have the potential to keep our citizens and borders safe, and if need be, to be part of NATO operations outside Poland," said the Polish President.
"Best of terms"
Donald Trump claimed a personal victory at a NATO summit on Thursday after telling European allies to increase spending or lose Washington's support, an ultimatum that forced leaders to huddle in a crisis session with the U.S. president.
Trump emerged declaring continued commitment to a Western alliance built on U.S. military might that has stood up to Moscow since World War Two.
People present said he had earlier warned he would "go it alone" if allies, notably Germany, did not make vast increases in their defence budgets for next year.
"I let them know that I was extremely unhappy," he said, but added that the talks ended on the best of terms: "It all came together at the end. It was a little tough for a little while."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who called the summit "very intense", and other leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, played down the extent to which they had pledged to accelerate spending plans as fast as Trump wanted.
"He said they must raise spending by January 2019 or the United States would go it alone," one person said of the clash at NATO headquarters when Trump spoke in a debate that was meant to move to other matters after rows over spending on Wednesday.
Presidents have been trying unsuccessfully for years to get Germany and other rich NATO Nations to pay more toward their protection from Russia. They pay only a fraction of their cost. The U.S. pays tens of Billions of Dollars too much to subsidize Europe, and loses Big on Trade!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 12 lipca 2018
Macron and others said they did not interpret Trump's words as a direct threat to quit the alliance Washington founded in 1949 to contain Soviet expansion. Trump, asked if he thought he could withdraw from NATO without backing from Congress, said he believed he could but it was "unnecessary".
Others say Congressional approval would be required and would be unlikely to be forthcoming.
Trump hailed a personal victory for his own strategy in complaining loudly that NATO budgets were unfair to U.S. taxpayers, and the emergence of what he said was a warm consensus around him.
Several diplomats and officials said, however, that his undiplomatic intervention, including pointing at other leaders and addressing Merkel as "you, Angela", had irritated many.
As the drama unfolded, a day after Trump launched a virulent public attack on German policy, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg cleared the room of many officials and the invited leaders of non-members Georgia and Afghanistan so that the other 28 leaders could hold a closed session with the president.
Spending targets
NATO members have committed to spending at least two percent of their national income on defence by 2024, though the terms allow for stretching that in some cases to 2030. The United States, far the biggest economy, spent 3.6 percent last year, while Germany, the second biggest, paid out just 1.2 percent and only a handful of countries met the 2 percent target.
Trump told leaders he wanted them all to hit that target by January, prompting consternation. Many have already settled their 2019 budgets and the sums involved are immense. Even if they wanted to, many would struggle to make useful purchases.
Merkel told reporters there followed a discussion with assurances to Trump that spending was increasing, something he later acknowledged was happening at an unprecedented rate.
"The American president demanded what has been discussed for months, that there is a change in the burden sharing," Merkel said. "I made clear that we are on this path. And that this is in our own interests and that it will make us stronger."
Asked when exactly the allies would now reach their two percent of GDP target, Trump said it would over the coming years. Macron said France, which last year spent 1.8 percent on defence, would meet the target by the 2024 deadline.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who like the summit host, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, was singled out in the room by Trump for spending less that 1 percent of GDP on defence, said Madrid would also meet the target by 2024.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International, Reuters, PAP