Bertrand Benoit and Thomas Grove
Sidestepping historic animosity and a decade of political tension, Germany and Poland pledged to boost defense cooperation amid fears that a Trump victory in November could herald a period of vulnerability for NATO in its confrontation with Russia.
The former World War II foes—both of whom see Moscow as their biggest security threat—pledged to increase their military coordination from procurement to training, reinforce the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s military presence near Russia, and better coordinate their assistance to Ukraine.
“The security of Poland is also the security of Germany,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in Warsaw after the two countries’ first government consultations in six years. “We will pool our capacities, and we will coordinate more…We will jointly take responsibility for the protection of NATO’s eastern flank.”
The announcement marks an inflection point in the relationship between NATO’s two military heavyweights in Central Europe, which viewed each other with deep suspicion for nearly a decade as Poland’s successive nationalist governments stoked anti-German sentiment. In Poland, Scholz’s arrival signaled his willingness to address shared security concerns voiced by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a pro-European moderate who has worked to rebuild alliances since his election late last year.
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