Poland submitted an application to participate in the Nuclear sharing program and did not withdraw it, Deputy Minister of National Defense of the Republic Pavel Zalewski said on Polish television.
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Earlier, President Andrzej Duda said that the Polish authorities are ready to deploy American nuclear weapons on their territory. Tusk responded to this by saying that he wanted to meet with Duda and find out what prompted him to make such statements. On Thursday, Duda invited Tusk to such a meeting on May 1. However, the prime minister refused this meeting, citing illness.
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“We are talking about a program called Nuclear sharing. This is a NATO program, but the decision and full control over the use of nuclear weapons, which, for example, would be located in Poland, would be taken by the Americans. Of course, this program operates in Europe. People take part in it Belgium, Italy, Germany. And Poland declared its readiness to participate in this program, and this statement of readiness was not withdrawn,” Zalewski said.
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At the same time, he stated that he did not understand for what purpose Duda raised this issue within Poland.
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“To be honest, I don’t understand what Mr. President’s goal is, why he raises these issues not in conversations with Western partners from NATO, from the United States, but speaks about this as if inside Poland. If the president really wants Polish membership in NATO was strengthened by participation in this program, then a situation that creates the appearance of internal political conflict around this issue is detrimental to the goal that the president seems to want to achieve,” the deputy minister said.
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“I urge Mr. President to talk more often with his security advisers,” he added.
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At the same time, Zalewski himself admitted that he was in favor of placing nuclear weapons in Poland. “I am a supporter of Poland’s participation in the Nuclear sharing program,” he said.
