By Anna Koper, Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk and Justyna Pawlak
WARSAW, Dec 11 (Reuters) – The policies of U.S. President Donald Trump should push Europe towards deeper integration and to strengthen itself militarily, Polish Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek said on Thursday.
Zurek, a former judge, was appointed by pro-European Prime Minister Donald Tusk in July to lead efforts to restore rule-of-law standards that critics say eroded under the previous nationalist government.
The government he serves in is at loggerheads with President Karol Nawrocki, a nationalist endorsed by Trump, over issues such as judicial nominations.
They also differ on matters of security, with Tusk advocating a stronger role for the European Union in defence, in contrast to Nawrocki who says this would undermine the crucial role of the United States on NATO’s eastern flank.
A U.S. strategy document published last week said Washington should focus on “cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations” while also saying Europe should take primary responsibility for its own defence.
EU leaders made little public response to the strategy, which some former officials said appeared surprisingly hostile to governments that were traditionally allied to Washington.
Referring to the document Zurek told Reuters that Europe must adapt as Washington under Trump has become “unpredictable at times.”
“This is the paradox: we disagree with various statements made by the U.S. President, but we see that this can push us to strengthen European alliances and try to say: Europe is strong,” he said.
“Europe is a huge, populated area, technologically advanced and with enormous economic and financial potential, so perhaps this is a moment in European history when we should strengthen European unity and strengthen ourselves militarily.”
A stronger EU would be a better partner for Washington and a bigger challenge for Russia waging war on Ukraine, Zurek said, adding that Kyiv’s swift accession to the bloc was crucial.
“We also have Ukraine, which we should strive to admit to the EU as soon as possible. It currently has the strongest, best trained army in Europe, and is rapidly adopting the latest weapons technologies, so we should take advantage of this.”
(Reporting by Anna Koper, Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk, Justyna Pawlak and Kuba Stezycki; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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