Germany and Poland signed a new defence agreement on Wednesday, putting aside their complicated past to strengthen European military cooperation amid heightened tensions with Russia and growing uncertainty over US engagement in Europe.
Relations between the two neighbours in recent years have become more pragmatic in the wake of Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the coming to power of a liberal government in Poland in 2023.
“We are not forgetting the past,” Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said in Warsaw during a press conference with his German counterpart, Boris Pistorius.
“But the politics of the future, development and security are our obligation.”
As the US weighs a partial drawdown of its military presence in Europe, Poland is keen to ensure that major European allies take a greater role in defending the continent’s eastern flank.
