Tusk stated this in an interview with the German newspaper Die Welt. “I know it sounds devastating, especially for the younger generation, but we have to get used to the fact that a new era has begun: the pre-war period. I’m not exaggerating. It’s getting clearer every day,” he emphasized.
“I don’t want to scare anyone, but war is no longer a thing of the past. It is a real concept and it started more than two years ago. The most worrying thing right now is that literally any scenario is possible. We haven’t had such a situation here since 1945,” added Tusk, referring to the end of World War II.
In this context, the Polish Prime Minister remembered a photograph that hung on the wall of his family’s house during his childhood. It showed a beach in Sopot full of smiling people.
“It was taken on August 31, 1939, and in a few hours the Second World War broke out five kilometers away,” said the 66-year-old Tusk, referring to September 1, 1939, when the opening battle of the German invasion of Poland took place on the Westerplatte peninsula near Gdańsk.
“Well, of course, he’s a Pole, a Russophobe”
With satisfaction, Tusk noted that we are now witnessing a “real revolution” in the mentality of Europeans. “When I was first prime minister (2007-2014), no one except the representatives of the Baltic states paid attention to my warnings that Russia could pose a threat,” he said.
According to Tusk, many rejected it, and as recently as 2009 there was talk of a security community stretching from Lisbon to Vladivostok. “When I said that Russia is a problem for Europe, many shrugged their shoulders and thought, ‘Oh sure, he’s a Pole, a Russophobe,'” Tusk continued.
The most important thing, he says, is that no one questions the need to be prepared for defense anymore. “Look at Germany, what a great transformation has taken place there. The CDU (the main opposition party) and the SPD (the social democracy of Chancellor Olaf Scholz) are competing to be more pro-Ukrainian. And look at the dispute between French President Emmanuel Macron and the populists,” Tusk added in an obvious allusion to the far-right National Association, whose best-known representative is Marine Le Pen.
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Foreign
With this fall’s US presidential election, Tusk said Europe will have to do more on defense regardless of whether incumbent Joe Biden or his predecessor Donald Trump wins.
“Not to gain military autonomy vis-à-vis the US or to create parallel structures vis-à-vis NATO, but to better utilize our potential, our capabilities and strength. When we are more self-sufficient in defense, we will be a more attractive partner for the United States,” said Tusk, who was president of the European Council from 2014 to 2019.
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Europe
