Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned that Russia could attack a NATO member within months and questioned if the U.S. would honor its mutual defense commitment in the event of such an attack.<\/p>\n
Tusk told the Financial Times, Europe’s “biggest, most important question” is whether the U.S. is ready to be a loyal NATO partner if such a situation arises. He called for the EU to become a “real alliance” for protecting the continent.<\/p>\n
“For the whole eastern flank, my neighbors… the question is if NATO<\/a> is still an organization ready, politically and also logistically, to react, for example, against Russia,<\/a> if they try to attack,” he told FT.<\/p>\n The Polish leader said a potential Russian attack was “something really serious.”<\/p>\n “I’m talking about short-term perspectives, rather months than years… For us, it’s really important to know that everyone will treat the NATO obligations as seriously as Poland.”<\/p>\n He suggested that the trans-Atlantic alliance review its mutual defense clause, Article 42.7 of the EU treaty, after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n, an ally of Russia<\/a>, lost the elections in Hungary.<\/p>\n “What you need if you want to have, not only on paper, a real alliance, is true tools and real power when it comes to defense instruments and mobility of militaries from country to country, etc. It’s a very practical problem for today,” he said.<\/p>\n “This is why my obsession now and my mission is to reintegrate Europe. It means common defense… a common effort to protect our eastern borders.”<\/p>\n