Not 'external enemies' are 'biggest threat' to NATO, says Polish PM after US decision to withdraw troops from Germany
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned on Saturday that the main danger facing the transatlantic community is the “ongoing disintegration of our alliance”, a “disastrous trend” that must be reversed.
“The biggest threat to the transatlantic community is not its external enemies, but the ongoing disintegration of our alliance. We must all do everything necessary to reverse this disastrous trend,” said Donald Tusk, on Saturday, on the X platform, quoted by Agerpres.
The message of the Polish leader comes in the context in which, on Friday, the Pentagon announced that it is withdrawing 5,000 troops from Germany and will redeploy them to the United States or other areas abroad, according to The New York Times.
Germany, the European country with the largest American military presence
At the end of last year, 36,400 of the 68,000 active duty soldiers permanently assigned to American bases in Europe were stationed in Germany, The Guardian wrote. Japan is the only foreign country with more, according to the NYT.
Reuters wrote that the troop withdrawal announcement is the second blow to Germany by the Trump administration this weekend. The US president has announced he will raise tariffs on EU car imports by 25%, accusing the EU of breaching the trade deal, a move that threatens to cost the German economy billions of euros.
A Pentagon spokesman told dpa that the troop withdrawal is expected to be completed within the next six to 12 months.
The move will bring US forces in Europe back to the level they were in 2022, before Russia launched the war against Ukraine, Pentagon officials said.
The reaction of the German Minister of Defense
Commenting on the situation, German Minister Boris Pistorius said that Europeans must take greater responsibility for their own security.
“Germany is on the right track” in this regard, Pistorius said, noting the expansion of the Bundeswehr armed forces, the faster and larger-scale acquisition of equipment and the building of infrastructure.
