Polish president pushes NATO to ramp up spending

Polish President Andrzej Duda used a joint White House visit with his political rival, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, on Tuesday to call on NATO allies to significantly increase defense spending and press a divided Washington to break its impasse over replenishing funds for Ukraine at a critical moment in the war in Europe.

Duda wants members of the NATO alliance to raise their spending on defense to 3% of their GDP as Russia puts its own economy on a war footing and pushes forward with its plans to conquer Ukraine. Poland already spends 4% of its own economic output on defense, double the current target of 2% for NATO nations.

The Polish leader made the call as he and Tusk visited Washington to mark their country’s 25th anniversary of joining the now 32-member transatlantic military alliance. It was a historic step into the West after breaking free from Moscow’s sphere of influence after decades of communist rule.

“Russia’s against Ukraine really demonstrated that United States is and should remain the security leader,” Duda said. “But other allies must take more responsibility for the security of the alliance as a whole. Two percent was good 10 years ago. Now 3% is required in response for the full scale war launched by Russia right beyond NATO’S eastern border.”

Biden marveled at Poland’s current defense spending and thanked the leaders for taking in hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees after Russia launched the February 2022 invasion.

“When we stand together, no force on earth is more powerful,” Biden said, recalling the words of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright upon Poland’s accession into the alliance. “I believe that then and I believe that now. And we see it with Polish and American troops serving side by side with NATO in the eastern flank, including in Poland.”

Biden administration officials, however, suggested ahead of the meeting that Duda’s call to raise the defense spending target for NATO countries may be, at least for the time being, overly ambitious.

“I think the first step is to get every country meeting the 2% threshold, and we’ve seen improvement of that,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. “But I think that’s the first step before we start talking about an additional proposal.”

The visit also comes amid a standoff in Washington between Biden, a Democrat, and House Republicans on Ukraine funding. House Republicans have blocked a $118 billion bipartisan package that includes $60 billion in Ukraine funding.

Duda met with U.S. lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Tuesday before the White House meeting and offered a blunt warning: If the U.S. does not deliver military aid to halt Russia’s advance, Poland will be on the front lines of a conflict that involves European and American troops.