PiS president: Tusk was tricked and carried out the instructions from Berlin, questioning the meaning of Art. 5

Prime Minister Donald Tusk was “tricked and carried out the instructions from Berlin”, questioning the meaning of Art. 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty – said PiS president Jarosław Kaczyński. He added that Tusk is destroying Polish-American relations, and at the same time Germany is tightening cooperation with the Americans on the NATO 3.0 concept.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in an interview with the Financial Times published on Friday that he sometimes “has some problems” with believing that Article 5 of the Washington Treaty on the mutual defense of NATO allies is still in force. He emphasized that the US treats Poland as one of the best and closest allies in Europe, but the key is how it would work in practice if “something happened.”

Kaczyński said on Sunday on the X platform that “once again Tusk was tricked and carried out the instructions from Berlin, attacking the Americans and de facto undermining the meaning of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which guarantees mutual, allied defense.”

“Tusk is destroying Polish-American relations, and at this time Germany is tightening cooperation with the Americans on the NATO 3.0 concept,” the PiS leader emphasized. “Tusk has been outplayed again. We are ruled by agents or by people whom God has deprived of any political skills? This diagnosis is still very mild and optimistic,” Kaczyński added.

In an interview with the FT, Tusk also emphasized that “the biggest and most important question for Europe is whether the United States is ready to be as loyal as described in our (NATO) treaties.” He also warned that Russia could attack an Alliance member within “months rather than years.” He assessed that the EU should strengthen its own mutual defense clause contained in Art. 42 section 7 of the Treaty on European Union.

The daily, calling Tusk's statements an “extraordinary statement,” emphasized that it reflected the growing uncertainty in Europe following U.S. President Donald Trump's threats and his wavering commitment to defend the continent.

In art. Article 5 of NATO's founding treaty states that an armed attack against one or more of its allies in Europe or North America “shall be considered an attack against all of them.”

In such a case, each State “in the exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defense” will provide assistance to the attacked countries “by taking promptly, on its own and in consultation with the other Parties, such measures as it considers necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.” This does not mean that allied countries will automatically start military actions – such as sending troops. However, it obliges NATO countries to respond in some form.

Path to trigger the provisions of Art. 5 is not clearly formalized, but requires a request from the attacked state. So far, it has been launched only once, at the request of the USA after the terrorist attacks on this country on September 11, 2001. (PAP)

bye/ par/