Tusk on the withdrawal of US troops and the strengthening of the Visegrad Group with Orban's departure from power

In response to US President Donald Trump's announcement that he would "punish" some allegedly disloyal European allies by withdrawing American troops, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said today that his country "will not enter the game of breaking European solidarity" by moving soldiers withdrawn from Germany or Spain to Poland.

"The issue of the withdrawal of American forces from some European countries is sensitive. There have been announcements and threats that American soldiers will be withdrawn from Germany, Italy, Spain. We as a country should not support this. I will not allow Poland to be abused in any way to undermine European cooperation," Tusk told Polish journalists on his return from the European Political Community summit in Yerevan.

Tusk warned that perhaps the opposition right in Poland or uninformed people do not want to understand this and are asking him to take the American side more.

"You can't be more pro-American than I have always been. But for me, being pro-American means trying to make transatlantic ties as strong as possible, ties between the US and Poland, but also ties between the US and the EU. We need an American military presence, not only in Poland, but also in other countries because it also benefits Poland's security," Tusk said.

The Prime Minister expressed hope that tensions between the US administration and some European countries will soon decrease.

"Poland is trying, and I am pleased with the activity of Polish President Karol Nawrocki, because we really have to play all the instruments we have, Poland has the prerequisites to be the country that facilitates and improves ties between the US and Europe," said Tusk.

Donald Tusk announced that now, after the defeat of Fidesz and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, he has ambitions to return the Visegrad Group to its former close cooperation as soon as possible, and he praised Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico for his "exceptional pragmatism."

"In his meeting with me, Prime Minister Fico emphasized that he will be very pragmatic. It is known that Fico's relations with Moscow are better than the European average, but Fico's pragmatic correction is very noticeable. I discussed with (Ukrainian) President Volodymyr Zelensky the possibility of him being a special guest at the Visegrad Four summit, which would be hosted by Slovakia," Tusk said.

According to Tusk, it is precisely the departure of Hungarian Prime Minister Orban from power that means that Visegrad cooperation can finally be renewed.

"My ambition is to restore maximum cooperation between Bratislava, Budapest, Prague and Warsaw, and I see that our partners in the V4 are ready to make adjustments within themselves that would allow us to renew cooperation," said Tusk.

During the EPP summit in Yerevan, President Zelensky asked Tusk to mediate so that now, together with future Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar, Kiev and Budapest could calm tensions, which had escalated to the maximum in the final stages of Orban's campaign ahead of the April 12 elections.