“We will be respected in all the capitals of the world if we believe that the European Union can be a power not only of civilization, economy, and science, but also a military power,” Tusk said in a joint conference with Scholz.
“History has turned out to be extremely cruel and surprising. A few years ago, no one would have thought that Poland and Germany would cooperate closely, including militarily, in defending Ukraine against Russian aggression,” Tusk said.
Earlier in Paris ahead of a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, Tusk took a leaf from French literature and proclaimed that NATO should be an alliance of “All for one, and one for all!”
Scholz struck the same note in his joint news conference with Tusk in Berlin, saying NATO’s “promise of protection applies unreservedly — all for one, one for all.”
The three leaders are trying to revive the so-called Weimar Triangle of Poland, Germany and France which was created in 1991 but went into the deep freeze during the previous Polish government of the nationalist Law and Justice party. That government, in power from 2015 until October’s election, harbored a deep historical aversion to Germany and enraged France by killing a big helicopter contract.
“The close cooperation between our three countries — Germany, Poland and France— is very important to all of us,” Scholz said. “That is why I am also proposing that the Weimar Triangle be given new momentum at the level of the heads of state and government in order to develop new impetus for the European Union.”