Poland and France deepen defence ties; president criticised as crypto scandal widens<\/p>\n
French President Emmanuel Macron met<\/a> Polish PM Donald Tusk in Gdansk on Monday, in a visit that marked a step-up in bilateral cooperation across defence, energy and emerging technologies, framed by both leaders as a response to a worsening security environment. Macron said relations were at a \u201chistorical level\u201d, while Tusk warned that \u201cif we do not ensure our own safety, no one will do it for us,\u201d underscoring the need for greater European unity. The summit was the first since Poland and France signed<\/a> a treaty in Nancy on enhanced cooperation on May 9, 2025, committing to closer ties across defence, economic, social and cultural policy. The agreement includes mutual security guarantees, joint efforts to counter hybrid threats, and expanded collaboration in sectors ranging from the defence industry to agriculture, science and the wider economy. In Gdansk, discussions centred on nuclear energy \u2013 including potential French involvement in Poland\u2019s planned second nuclear power plant \u2013 as well as shared defence planning. Macron confirmed that the leaders had discussed the prospect of joint nuclear exercises as part of extending France\u2019s deterrence umbrella to European allies. In March, France \u2013 the EU\u2019s only nuclear-armed state \u2013 announced<\/a> plans to broaden its deterrence framework, inviting eight countries, including Poland, to take part, while signalling an expansion of its own nuclear capabilities. \u201cWe began discussing this even before the Nancy treaty and will continue to work on it,\u201d Tusk said, adding the two countries were planning regular joint exercises \u201con a fairly large scale\u201d. While acknowledging the sensitivity of nuclear deployments \u2013 \u201cHaving Rafales with atomic bombs above Poland is not my dream\u201d \u2013 he stressed that \u201cwe live in a world in which we need nuclear deterrence capabilities.\u201d Tusk also pointed to France\u2019s swift response to a Russian drone incursion into Polish airspace in September 2025 as evidence of allied reliability, and confirmed that a permanent French military presence in Poland is already effectively in place. He added that Paris may also contribute to securing the Rzeszow-Jasionka airport, a key hub for military aid going into Ukraine.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Zondacrypto, one of Poland\u2019s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, is at the centre of a widening scandal<\/a>\u00a0that has already left hundreds of users unable to access their funds, with prosecutors estimating losses at no less than 350 million zloty (82 million euros). Investigators are examining whether clients were misled about the safety and availability of their assets, amid mounting complaints over blocked withdrawals and questions about the platform\u2019s access to key reserves. As the investigation gathers pace, the case has spilled into an increasingly bitter political dispute over regulation and responsibility. At the heart of it is President Karol Nawrocki\u2019s decision<\/a> to twice veto a government-backed law on crypto assets, which would have expanded the powers of Poland\u2019s financial watchdog to intervene in risky or opaque offerings. Nawrocki has defended his vetoes, arguing the proposed framework amounted to overregulation and would have failed to prevent the kind of problems now emerging. \u201cI do not regret this veto for a second,\u201d he said, placing the onus on the government and suggesting that if the authorities had prior warning signs, they should have alerted investors earlier. The government tells a different story. \u201cThe president\u2019s determination to protect Zondacrypto was stronger than the interests of Polish citizens,\u201d government spokesperson Adam Sz\u0142apka said<\/a>, arguing that the blocked legislation had been designed precisely to shield investors from such large-scale losses. Tusk went further, linking the platform\u2019s rapid rise to opaque financing and political connections on the right \u2013 claims that the opposition rejects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Poland and France deepen defence ties; president criticised as crypto scandal widens French President Emmanuel Macron met Polish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[132],"tags":[9738,3223,416,422,396,248,5770,329,5895,330,350],"class_list":{"0":"post-41006","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-viktor-orban","8":"tag-czech-republic","9":"tag-defence","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-hungary","12":"tag-nato","13":"tag-poland","14":"tag-protests","15":"tag-russia","16":"tag-slovakia","17":"tag-ukraine","18":"tag-viktor-orban"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116458436913196458","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}