Poland and the United Kingdom will sign a defence treaty in London on Wednesday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday.
“This is a historic moment because, after having signed a treaty in Nancy with the French Republic, Poland will sign this treaty with the United Kingdom tomorrow,” Tusk told reporters in Warsaw.
The security and defence pact, which Tusk will sign with his British counterpart Keir Starmer, paves the way for joint military exercises and information-sharing, and will also cover cooperation in cyber and health security, according to the Polish government.
Poland — an EU and NATO member state — shares its eastern border with Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.
But that geography means instability has become a reality for the former Warsaw Pact country, Tusk said.
“Certainly not for a month, but for years, given the neighbourhood,” he added.
As a result, Poland’s defence pacts with European countries, alongside its alliance with the United States, are designed to guarantee “total security”, he added.
Poland, the most populous country on NATO’s eastern flank, spends the most in the alliance on defence — more than 4.8 percent of its gross domestic product this year alone.
At the beginning of May, Warsaw signed a loan agreement with the European Commission to finance the modernisation of its army and arms industry, under which it will receive nearly 44 billion euros.
Last year, Poland and France signed a treaty of friendship and enhanced cooperation, which includes defence and mutual assistance clauses that France, a nuclear power, reserves for its closest allies.
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