There is “a real threat” that Poland will leave the EU, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, after the country’s president vetoed a bill that would have allowed Warsaw to benefit from billions of dollars in defense loans from the bloc.

President Karol Nawrocki last week vetoed legislation that would have allowed Warsaw to withdraw nearly 44 billion euros ($50 billion) in low-interest defense loans from the EU, most of which were intended for domestic arms firms. The government responded by calling an emergency cabinet session, authorizing defense and finance ministers to directly sign the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) agreement, bypassing the veto.

In a post on X on Sunday, Tusk accused right-wing parties, most of the opposition Law and Justice bloc, and Nawrocki personally of seeking a “Polexit.” He claimed that Russia, US President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement and European factions led by Hungary’s Viktor Orban want to “destroy the EU,” warning that for Poland, “this would be a disaster” and vowing to do “everything” to stop them.

Western officials have long used the threat of alleged Russian aggression to justify increased military spending, including Brussels’ €800 billion plan to ReArm Europe and NATO members’ pledge to increase defense budgets to 5% of GDP. Moscow has dismissed such claims as “nonsense.”

European NATO members have struggled to meet Washington’s objectives, while the EU has struggled to revive its defense industry and has seen American arms purchases for Ukraine become increasingly costly.

One of the EU’s main tools for addressing all three objectives is the SAFE program. Introduced by the European Commission last year, it allows the bloc to borrow 150 billion euros on global markets to finance loans from member states for defense projects.

The political clash between Nawrocki and Tusk is not new. In January 2025, Nawrocki, then an opposition presidential candidate, joined a farmers’ protest outside the European Commission office in Warsaw against EU environmental rules and Ukrainian food imports. Donald Tusk accused him of trying to kick Poland out of the bloc.

© BalkansWeb