Higher defence spending should be seen as 'positive challenge,' says Tusk
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said that Europe should treat US President Donald Trump's call to raise spending on defence as a "positive challenge."
On Wednesday, Tusk addressed the European Parliament during a debate over Poland's priorities for its presidency of the Council of the European Union.
"We are living with a conflict right at our borders," Tusk told the parliamentarians. "We have rapid and sometimes uncontrolled... civilisational progress," he said, adding that that Poland chose 'Security, Europe!' as the motto for its EU presidency in response to that global sentiment of uncertainty and disorientation.
In this context, Tusk mentioned Trump's assertion that Europe should assume greater responsibility for its own security instead of relying on protection from its American allies. "We treat it as a positive challenge," he said of Trump's words, adding that no one in Europe should be annoyed by that notion, and instead ask what they could do to enhance their own security.
According to Tusk, the European Union had never feared "leaps into the unknown." "Leaders of other superpowers, such as Donald Trump, speak of their countries' achievements with pride," he said. "Europe also has the right to be as vocal and clear about its greatness," he concluded. (PAP)
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